Who Needs Steel?

You need steel, and met coal makes steel possible

From planes, trains and automobiles to high rises, skyscrapers and hockey skates, we all use steel

We all use steel, it is part of everything we do every day. And world steel production is made possible by the mining and recovery of metallurgical coal. In fact, over 70% of world steel production requires met coal as feedstock for steel production. The remaining near 30% is created using Electric Arc Furnaces (EAF). Which utilize recycled, or scrap steel. They cannot, or cannot  efficiently turn ore into new steel. So it can be inferred that much of their feedstock scrap steel required coal to be produced.  

Reality check: hydrogen steel making

The cost of hydrogen just doesn't make sense

Investors in hydrogen have scuttled or delayed proposed investments over recent years, stating it isn’t economic or feasible. With some choosing to invest in traditional blast furnaces with hopes that by the 2030s hydrogen may be a viable choice.  

  • ArcelorMittal: In April, 2025 the world’s second largest steel producer delayed multiple hydrogen projects, as they were “Not economically viable before 2030”
  • Cleveland-Cliffs: In July, 2025 Cleveland-Cliffs  scrapped its $500 million hydrogen-based steel project in Middletown, Ohio, due to concerns over insufficient clean hydrogen supply, shifting focus to extend the life of its coal-fired blast furnace instead.
  • Seven additional hydrogen projects worth billions were scrapped in 2025 

Recently many observers have made claims that hydrogen can replace met coal for steel production, and there is no need for new met coal mines. But this couldn’t be further from the truth. Hydrogen and hydrogen for steel making has serious cost and efficiency concerns that need to be overcome—and the markets are reflecting this.  

While there have been specialized pilot projects that have reduced ore using hydrogen the volume simply isn’t there. Hybrit for example has produced approximately 5000 tonnes of sponge iron (an intermediate stage of steel making). And over 90% of all planned hydrogen facilities plan to use natural gas as their initial feedstock— not hydrogen. Even if we were to double or triple that production to include a handful of other pilot plants, it still wouldn’t amount to much more than 0 percent of world steel production.

Met, or steelmaking coal, accounts for over 70 percent of the nearly 1.9 billion tonnes of steel produced in 2024. While hydrogen does represent an exciting future source of steel, we are unlikely to see any meaningful volumes until the 2030s or 2040s.

Where our steel comes from

A growing met coal mining sector can grow Canada's economy

Now, more than ever Canadians understand the importance of our natural resource sector and want to see them developed. 

This is especially true of mining, polls have shown 80% of Canadians support mining in Canada.  

Canada can contribute more to world steel security and production by developing our metallurgical coal resources, and by doing so we can also grow our economy and put more Canadians to work.