12:53 PM EDT, 03/25/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Cleveland-Cliffs ( CLF ) said Monday that its plants at Middletown Works in Ohio and Butler Works in Pennsylvania are in line for award negotiations for up to $575 million from the US Department of Energy for decarbonization efforts.

The funding will come from the DOE's Industrial Demonstrations Program, supported by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act, the company said.

If awarded, the company said it will replace its current blast furnace in Ohio with an upgrade that will maintain existing steel production capacity and eliminate coke usage for iron production.

The new facility is expected to slash production costs by roughly $150 per net ton of liquid steel, resulting in annual savings of about $450 million, Cleveland-Cliffs ( CLF ) said.

At its Butler Works facility in Pennsylvania, two of its existing natural-gas furnaces are expected to be replaced by four electrified induction slab reheat furnaces, helping to generate annual cost savings of around $80 million, the company said.

Shares of Cleveland-Cliffs ( CLF ) were up more than 1% in recent Monday trading.

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