U.S. Steel will spend about $1.9 billion on a direct reduced iron facility at its Big River Steel Works electric-arc-furnace complex in Osceola, Arkansas. The plant will feed high-quality iron to the furnaces, reducing reliance on scrap for premium grades. The company expects about 2,000 construction jobs at peak and credited its Nippon Steel parent with pulling the project forward by years. Mine to mill The plant will turn iron ore pellets from U.S. Steel's own Keetac mine in Minnesota into direct reduced iron, which is made without melting the ore. Chief executive David Burritt called the result steel that is "mined, melted, made in America." Jobs and unknowns Once running, the plant is expected to support about 200 full-time Big River employees and 35 full-time contractor roles. Neither U.S. Steel nor Nippon Steel has given a start date or production capacity. More work at Big River U.S. Steel has also announced a new line at Big River for grain-oriented electrical steel, used in transformers for data centers and the power grid. Nippon Steel plans to transfer its own know-how for the high-grade, low-loss sheet.
