ArcelorMittal Dofasco has announced it’s shutting down its No. 3 coke plant. The company framed this as progress. Some in the media treated it like a win for the environment. And yes, there are real positives here — it will contribute to better air quality and no jobs will be lost.
But let’s be clear: this is not the clean steel transition that Canadians, and especially Hamiltonians, were promised, and that governments committed $950 million to support.
Coke is a refined coal product that powers traditional steelmaking and the fuel used to smelt iron ore. It is produced by heating coal in absence of air and this process is one of the biggest sources of pollution at steel mills.
Producing less coke will mean less pollution. But this does not mean low-carbon steel. All indications suggest Dofasco will simply buy coke from other producers and keep running their coal-reliant blast furnaces.
One less coke plant does not push coal-free steelmaking forward in Hamilton. We can expect the stalling to continue.
What Happened
On April 13th, ArcelorMittal Dofasco’s No. 3 coke plant processed its last batch of coke. It left the facility with one functioning coke plant and the community with many questions.
A few of those questions have been answered.
Moving and processing coal also requires lots of labour. However, the closure will not lead to job losses. ArcelorMittal Dofasco clarified that the 50 workers affected will be reassigned to other roles at the facility. This too is good news, and also shows that cutting coal doesn’t have to mean cutting jobs.
But questions about decarbonization remain unanswered. The closure was not accompanied by any firm commitment or plan to phase out coal. The company’s decarbonization plan remains a secret and the community is still searching for answers.
The Promise That’s Gone Silent
Back in 2022, ArcelorMittal Dofasco made a public commitment to phase out coal-based steelmaking and replace it with modern technology, including a Direct Reduced Iron (DRI) furnace and an additional Electric Arc Furnace (EAF).
That plan wasn’t perfect. ArcelorMittal Dofasco intended to fuel its new DRI furnace with natural gas until low-carbon hydrogen became commercially available. That would have required building a new gas pipeline.
However, the project’s underlying technology is the future of steelmaking, and this technology is one that Canada is uniquely positioned to develop. We have high-purity iron ore, abundant clean electricity, and the skilled workforce needed to make steel this way – and to do so without fossil fuels. We can produce the green hydrogen needed to remove natural gas from the process and produce truly low-carbon steel.
The federal and provincial governments clearly saw this potential and wanted Canada’s largest steel mill to position the country as a leader in low-carbon steelmaking. Together they committed $900 million (now $950 million) in public funds to move construction forward. In the fall of 2022, they lined up alongside company executives to “break ground” on the project.
With this level of support, progress seemed guaranteed. The ground had been broken and construction was scheduled to finish by the end of 2026. By 2028 the facility would end coal use for good.
But as the original completion date approaches, there has been no visible construction, and AMD has failed to provide the community a single substantive update.
What We Know and What We Don’t
So far, the only real updates have come from the federal government. But they raise more questions about the project than they answer.
Federal officials have said project timelines remain the same. The only significant change is that ArcelorMittal Dofasco now plans to source DRI from its facility in Contrecœur, Quebec, rather than building a new DRI plant in Hamilton.
It is hard to believe that the project remains on track when ArcelorMittal Dofasco is still reconsidering fundamental aspects of its plans. It’s even harder to believe when these details aren’t coming from the company itself.
If ArcelorMittal Dofasco were making genuine progress, they would be eager to advertise this. Monday’s coke plant closure demonstrates this.
The company branded the closure as a decarbonization action when, in reality, the plant may have simply become too costly to maintain. If there was a plan, we would know about it. ArcelorMittal Dofasco would make sure of that.
Why This Matters
This was ArcelorMittal Dofasco’s moment. Closing its coke plant was the perfect opportunity to clarify where their decarbonization plans stand.
But they didn’t. And this matters.
The No. 3 coke plant wasn’t ArcelorMittal Dofasco’s only piece of aging infrastructure. It also has two coal-burning blast furnaces nearing the end of their operational lives. Soon the company will have to decide whether to invest millions to refurbish those furnaces or move forward with its decarbonization plans.
While this recent facility announcement was good news, the next one could lock them into another decade of burning coal. That’s another decade of unacceptable air and climate pollution.
If ArcelorMittal Dofasco turns back to coal, it will be the community that suffers. Hamilton residents deserve to know and deserve to have their voices heard.
So the next time ArcelorMittal Dofasco claims it’s making strides toward decarbonization, it should come with firm commitments and detailed plans. Anything short of this is an effort to buy time.
