(Toledo, OH) Construction is officially underway on an iron ore facility in East Toledo.
A groundbreaking ceremony officially launched the $700 million iron ore pellet production plant, which is being built along the Maumee River in an industrial and shipping area known as Ironville.
The project will create 1,200 construction jobs and then 130 permanent jobs paying an average of $90,000 when the hot-iron briquette factory opens. The pellets will be produced by Cleveland Cliffs and loaded onto freighters to head to their next destination, where they will become steel.
The plant is being built on part of the former Gulf Oil refinery site along Front Street, but the company's chief executive promises a fully-enclosed, environmentally-friendly operation that emits no air pollution and all river water treated on-site and recirculated.