Cleveland-Cliffs to Repurpose Tinplate Mill As Electrical Distribution Transformer Production Plant

Steel manufacturer Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., on Monday, announced that it will repurpose its Weirton-area Half Moon Industrial Complex to serve as a new electrical distribution transformer production plant. The complex has been dormant in recent months following the company’s shift away from tinplate production. Once made again operational, the plant will begin production of three-phase distribution transformers used in electric power distribution systems.
The total cost of the project is estimated to be $150 million, $50 million of which will be provided by the State of West Virginia in the form of a forgivable loan. Upon the plant’s completion – sometime within the first half of 2026 – Cleveland-Cliffs expects to provide re-employment opportunities for approximately 600 union workers formerly employed at the Weirton tinplate mill.
Shortly after the announcement was made, Cleveland-Cliffs Chairman, President, and CEO Lourenco Goncalves joined WV Governor Jim Justice at the Half Moon Complex for a press conference.
“We’re not going to produce tinplates here anymore,” Goncalves told those in attendance. “The tinplate users preferred to go with imported tinplates, believing that they are making a very smart choice. They were also counting on us continuing to subsidize them, and make them print money on the backs of the workers here in Weirton.”
“Not on my watch,” Goncalves added. “So we shut down the plant, but we did not abandon the workforce.”
Goncalves said that their desire to protect and utilize their workforce is what ultimately led Cleveland-Cliffs to “intelligently put that workforce back to do something that’s not only meaningful for Weirton, and for the great State of West Virginia, but also for the United States of America.”
As part of the initial announcement Monday morning, Goncalves explained that distribution transformers are in “short supply” across both the nation and the world. Goncalves further explained that the expansive use of AI (artificial intelligence) in all fields will serve to exacerbate the shortage by increasing the demand on electrical grids.
“Said another way, there will be no AI without electricity, and there will be no electricity without transformers,” Goncalves added. “Our vision for Weirton is to develop a first-of-a-kind center of excellence for transformer manufacturing that will provide good paying, middle class jobs to skilled workers, and will service our country’s electrical infrastructure needs.”
Justice then began his remarks by applauding the efforts of Cleveland-Cliffs, going so far as to call Goncalves, “The real deal.”
“He absolutely has one thing that you just can’t go out and get anywhere – he’s got passion,” Justice said. “He’s got love, and he’s got caring for his employees. […] Too many American companies today just move on, that’s all there is to it. I can’t tell you how many conversations we’ve had together, and it was really, genuinely bothering this man.”
“Lourenco is a good man, and it’s a good company,” Justice added.
Following the announcement, West Virginia Senate President Craig Blair, R-Berkeley, released a written statement, saying, “Today’s announcement represents a real commitment and desire to keep manufacturing jobs right here in West Virginia.”
“The Northern Panhandle was faced with a serious challenge with the loss of hundreds of jobs when Cleveland-Cliffs idled its Weirton operations earlier this year” Blair’s statement continued. “Fortunately, the ability to adapt and change direction presented the opportunity to reopen this location and save these jobs. We are grateful to all of the people who dedicated countless hours to this effort, and we are excited to see the great things that will grow from this investment.”
In a separate statement, West Virginia’s House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, added. “West Virginia has a history of rising up to solve the country’s problems, whether it was our salt furnaces and our coal mines, or our extraordinary people.”
“This new endeavor not only saves hundreds of West Virginia jobs, but it also positions us to step up and solve a global supply chain problem,” Hanshaw noted. “The big news out of Hancock County today is frankly even bigger than most of us can grasp just yet, but all the folks who had that big vision for how to keep manufacturing in Weirton and put in the work to make today’s announcement possible deserve our deep appreciation.”