Cleveland-Cliffs Weirton Works (tinplate)
Large load · 100 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE, Weirton, WV
Cleveland-Cliffs idled its Weirton, West Virginia tinplate plant in April 2024, after a trade case failed to produce tariffs on tin mill imports. The company said the idling affected about 900 employees, who were offered relocation or severance. Cliffs then announced a plan to convert the idled site into an electrical distribution transformer plant, first delayed in May 2025 and then confirmed in July 2025. The steel operation itself remains idled.
Overview
The International Trade Commission issued a unanimous decision against anti-dumping and countervailing duties on tin mill products, and Cliffs said that outcome made viable tinplate production impossible. On February 15, 2024 the company announced it would indefinitely idle the Weirton tinplate plant in April 2024 and issued a WARN notice covering approximately 900 employees. Manufacturing Dive reported that the Weirton facility sold about 300,000 net tons of tin mill products a year, roughly 2 percent of the company's total steel sales volume. Affected workers were offered relocation to other Cliffs facilities or severance packages.
Profile
- Transformer plant plan, 2024 to 2025
- In July 2024 Cliffs announced it would repurpose its Half Moon Warehouse in Weirton to make three-phase distribution transformers, with a total capital investment of $150 million. Of that, $50 million was to be a forgivable loan from the State of West Virginia. The company said the plant would reemploy 600 United Steelworkers members from the idled tinplate mill. In May 2025 Cliffs said it would indefinitely delay the project, citing changes in scope from its project partner. Later in 2025 Cliffs confirmed on its second-quarter earnings call that it would repurpose the tinplate factory into the transformer plant.
- Grain-oriented steel demand and grid context
- Cliffs presented the transformer plant as a response to a shortage of distribution transformers for the U.S. electric grid. The company said the plant would generate additional demand for grain-oriented electrical steel, which Cliffs produces only in the United States, at its Butler Works mill in Pennsylvania. The transformer plant would also consume stainless and carbon steel from Cliffs plants in Ohio, Michigan and Indiana. Cliffs said it expected the new plant to come online in the first half of 2026.
Facility
- Activity
- Tinplate steel production
- Industry
- Manufacturing
- Site type
- Facility
- Operating status
- Idled
Related records
Timeline
- Feb 15, 2024
- Cleveland-Cliffs announced it would indefinitely idle the Weirton tinplate plant in April 2024.
Cleveland-Cliffs to Idle Weirton Tinplate Facility Following Unfavorable ITC Ruling :: Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (CLF)
- Jul 22, 2024
- Cliffs announced a $150 million plan to repurpose the idled site into a transformer plant.
Cleveland-Cliffs Announces Its New State-of-the-Art Electrical Transformer Production Plant in Weirton, West Virginia :: Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (CLF)
- May 2, 2025
- Cliffs said it would indefinitely delay the Weirton transformer plant.
Cleveland Cliffs indefinitely delays plans for Weirton's electrical transformer plant - Farm and Dairy