Cleveland-Cliffs has successfully completed a H₂ injection trial at its Indiana Harbor #7 blast furnace, the largest blast furnace in North America. This represents the second Cleveland-Cliffs blast furnace to utilize H₂ as a reductant and fuel source, following the successful trial at Middletown Works in May of 2023. Indiana Harbor #7 is among the largest blast furnaces in the entire world, both in size and production capacity. IH#7 also compares favorably against similar equipment in Japan, Korea, China or Europe, for its technological capability to support the production of high-end steels, including highly specified automotive feedstock.

Cliffs recently completed the commissioning of the H₂ pipeline at Indiana Harbor, which was used for this trial. This successful commissioning marks another significant achievement toward Cliffs’ future GHG reduction efforts, completing the pipeline in advance of schedule, below budget and without incident. Cliffs' H₂ gas supplier, Linde, was a critical partner in the successful execution of this major trial.

Lourenco Goncalves, Cliffs’ Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer said, “Indiana Harbor #7 is the largest blast furnace in North America and we are proud of our ability to be ahead of the curve in using this cutting edge technology to decarbonize, while maintaining both our efficiency and the high standard of quality that comes with steel produced via the blast furnace route. As the American iron and steel leader, we are proud that we are ahead of the rest of the world in using the technologies that make our blast furnace steel the cleanest in the world, including using iron ore pellets, natural gas injection, HBI and now H₂. I congratulate my team on another major step forward. I also thank Linde for their valuable contribution.”