Cleveland-Cliffs Dearborn Works
Large load · 4001 MILLER RD, Dearborn, MI
Dearborn Works is Cleveland-Cliffs' steel mill on the Rouge complex in Dearborn, Michigan. Its blast furnace, basic oxygen steel shop and slab casters were temporarily idled in 2025, and the site now runs as a finishing plant: the pickling line tandem cold mill and the hot-dip galvanizing line stay in operation. No contracted or metered MW figure for the mill has been published. Its grid footprint is tied to the neighbouring Dearborn Industrial Generation cogeneration plant, which burns the mill's blast furnace gas and sells it steam.
Overview
In March 2025 Cleveland-Cliffs announced it would idle Dearborn's blast furnace, BOF steel shop and continuous casting, citing weak US automotive production, and sent layoff notices to about 600 employees effective July 15, 2025. The company said the restart of the #6 blast furnace at Cleveland Works would offset the lost hot metal. In late July 2025 it confirmed the Cleveland furnace was back and the Dearborn idling under way.
Profile
- Finishing lines keep running
- The pickling line tandem cold mill and continuous galvanizing line kept operating through the idle, supporting about 550 jobs. These finishing lines are motor loads well below what the full integrated mill drew when the blast furnace and BOF shop were running.
- Blast furnace gas and the Dearborn Industrial Generation plant
- Across Miller Road, the Dearborn Industrial Generation plant can produce up to 750 MW and sends most of it to the grid. Its boilers burned almost entirely blast furnace gas from the steel mill, two of its flares sit on the mill's property, and it sold steam back to the mill, according to a 2019 Michigan inspection report. When it was built after the 1999 Rouge powerhouse explosion, the plant was contracted to supply about 400 MW and steam to Rouge Steel and Ford together. With the blast furnace idle, that fuel stream stops.
Facility
- Activity
- Integrated carbon steel mill (blast furnace and BOF, idled) with pickling, cold rolling and hot-dip galvanizing; carbon slabs, galvanized and advanced high-strength steels
- Industry
- Manufacturing
- Site type
- Facility
- Operating status
- Operating
Related records
Timeline
- Jul 28, 2025
- Cliffs confirms the Cleveland C-6 restart and the start of the Dearborn idle
Cliffs confirms Cleveland furnace restart, Dearborn furnace idling - Steel Market Update