US Steel - Keetac
Large load · 1 MINE ROAD, Keewatin, MN
Keetac is U.S. Steel's taconite mine and pellet plant at Keewatin on Minnesota's Iron Range. Minnesota Power supplies its electricity, under a five-year agreement covering Keetac and Minntac that was announced in October 2016. The plant has a history of idling and restarting with steel demand. In 2023 U.S. Steel completed a $150 million plant for direct-reduction (DR) grade pellets there, built to produce up to four million tons a year, and in June 2025 Nippon Steel closed its $14.9 billion purchase of U.S. Steel.
Overview
In October 2016 Allete, Minnesota Power's parent company, announced a five-year agreement to supply electricity to U.S. Steel's two Iron Range taconite plants, Minntac in Mountain Iron and Keetac in Keewatin. Keetac was closed when the agreement was signed. Minnesota Power's own fact sheet for the Minnesota Legislature lists U.S. Steel's Minntac and Keewatin Taconite facilities among its large industrial accounts, which together produce nearly 20 million tons of pellets annually.
Profile
- Idlings and the 2017 restart
- Keetac was idled and still closed when the 2016 power agreement was signed. In January 2017 U.S. Steel said it would restart the idled Keetac mine and pellet plant after securing third-party orders for pellets; the plant has an annual capacity of about six million net tons. Local reporting describes Keetac as often the first U.S. Steel Minnesota plant to idle and the last to reopen when steel prices fall.
- DR-grade pellet plant
- U.S. Steel broke ground on the $150 million DR-grade pellet plant in October 2022 and finished construction in 2023. The first DR-grade shipment left Keetac on May 7, 2024; until then Keetac and Minntac supplied only blast-furnace pellets. DR-grade pellets feed direct-reduced or hot-briquetted iron, which in turn supplies electric arc furnaces. Keetac was built to produce up to four million tons of DR-grade pellets a year, and about 400 steelworkers are employed there.
Facility
- Activity
- Taconite mining and iron ore pellets, including direct-reduction (DR) grade pellets
- Industry
- Manufacturing
- Site type
- Facility
- Operating status
- Operating
Related records
Timeline
- Oct 11, 2016
- Allete announces a five-year electricity agreement with U.S. Steel for Minntac and Keetac.
Minnesota Power inks 5-year deal with U.S. Steel taconite plants - Duluth News Tribune | News, weather, and sports from Duluth, Minnesota
- Jan 3, 2017
- U.S. Steel announces it will restart the idled Keetac mine and pellet plant.
U. S. Steel Announces Plans to Restart Idled Taconite Facility - Association for Iron & Steel Technology
- May 7, 2024
- First DR-grade pellet shipment leaves Keetac.
Keetac's new DR-grade pellet plant up and running - Duluth News Tribune | News, weather, and sports from Duluth, Minnesota