VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – North American iron-ore products producer Cliffs Natural Resources has secured a new 20-year energy agreement with fellow NYSE-listed WEC Energy Group to provide the company’s core Tilden mine, in Michigan, with a long-term, reliable and affordable source of electric power.
“Our Tilden mine produces among the highest quality pellets in North America. With a stable, long-term source of power in place, Tilden will also continue to be the most operationally efficient producer of pellets for the domestic steel industry,” advised Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves.
Cliffs said the agreement would provide the Tilden mine with a clean, cost-effective and highly efficient energy-generating capacity solution and also resolve the long-term energy reliability issues facing the residents in Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
Under this agreement WEC Energy Group, through the proposed Upper Michigan Energy Resources Corporation, plans to construct, own and operate 170 MW of new natural-gas-generating capacity across two sites in the Upper Peninsula. Pending regulatory approvals, the proposed facilities are expected to start operations in 2019, ahead of the retirement of the current Presque Isle power plant.
With WEC Energy Group's investment in new electric power generation in the region, Cliffs stated that there would be tangible benefits for Upper Peninsula residents of a more cost-effective energy future, negating the possibility of a future system support resource related to the operation of the Presque Isle power plant.