Cleveland-Cliffs CEO says no plans to replace blast furnaces to cut emissions

Cleveland-Cliffs has no plans to replace any of its coal-fueled blast furnace operations with electric-arc furnaces as the U.S. and EU negotiate a new trade agreement aimed at lowering carbon emissions from steel production, CEO Lourenco Goncalves said on Tuesday.

“At this point in time, given the market conditions, our blast furnaces, which are very environmentally compliant, are here to stay,” Goncalves told a news briefing in Washington.