U.S. Steel Minntac Ported Kilns

Lakehead Constructors installed new state-of-the-art ported kiln equipment for U.S. Steel’s Minntac Plant on two of their pellet kilns. The work for each project included: cutting 96 holes in the kiln shell for the port castings, installing a rotating manifold with air valves on the kiln, new kiln brick lining, constructing a new blower building for the air blowers, air ducting, air piping to the 96 ports, and some modifications to the kiln heat shields and walkways. These were the first kilns used for processing taconite that were ported in the U.S.
The work was completed under budget and on schedule, during a scheduled plant shut-down.