Tenova Core, part of the Tenova group of companies, recently supplied a new rotary-hearth furnace to the Mesabi Nugget facility in Hoyt Lakes, Minn. The furnace has a design capacity to produce 500,000 tons of iron nuggets annually using the innovative Kobe Steel ITmk3® process. The doughnut-type rotary-hearth furnace has a diameter of approximately 68 meters, making it the largest diameter rotary-hearth furnace that Tenova Core has ever supplied and one of the largest rotary-hearth furnace installations in the world.

The furnace features unique combustion and burner systems specifically designed to provide efficient heating for the ITmk3 process. Iron nuggets are a key raw material for steel production. Steel Dynamics and Kobe Steel Ltd. partnered to construct and operate the Mesabi Nugget facility. Tenova Core designs and supplies reheating, heat-treating and specialty furnaces as well as melt-shop equipment and automation systems.