“It’s primarily commissioned,” Travis Kolari, head of plant operations, told the Mesabi Tribune newspaper. “We should be making pellets at the first of the year as scheduled.”

U. S. Steel began working on the project in the fall of 2022. The low-silica pellets, which are intended for direct reduction ironmaking, are a new product for the steelmaker, which will either sell the output to third-party direct reduction producers or use them to feed a potential direct reduction facility of its own.