Pittsburgh (Platts)--27Nov2012/510 pm EST/2210 GMT
Specialty iron ore miner Magnetation plans to build a 3 million mt/year iron ore pelletizing plant in Reynolds, Indiana, as part of its Magnetation joint venture with AK Steel, the company said Tuesday. Magnetation reclaims ore concentrate from the tailings of old mining operations. The concentrate will be mined in northern Minnesota and transported to the $300 million-$350 million Indiana facility and processed into high-quality iron ore pellets for use by AK Steel. The company plans to break ground for the project in the first quarter of 2013 and for it to be operational in late 2014 or early 2015. Magnetation is a 50.1% majority owner in the JV with AK Steel, which owns the remaining 49.9%. Magnetation also maintains JVs with steel producer Steel Dynamics and commodities giant Cargill.--Nicholas Tolomeo, nicholas_tolomeo@platts.com--Edited by Richard Rubin, richard_rubin@platts.com