Mesabi Nugget Restarts After Maintenance Shutdown

HOYT LAKES, Minn. (AP) -- The Mesabi Nugget plant will resume production, after it was shut down for maintenance earlier this month.

Plant manager Jeff Hansen tells the Mesabi Daily News that the plant will be back up and running on Monday.

The Mesabi Nugget plant is near Hoyt Lakes and employs about 90 workers. It's owned by Steel Dynamics Inc. of Indiana.

Hansen says the rotary hearth furnace in the plant was taken down Nov. 12 for repairs. He says such adjustments are not uncommon.

The plant makes iron nuggets that are about 95 percent pure to feed electric arc minimills and produce flat-rolled steel. Conventional taconite plants typically produce pellets with an iron content of about 65 percent.

The Mesabi Nugget plant began production in January.

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