Cyclone Metals, a Canadian exploration and development company, has started producing direct reduction (DR) grade pellets at its Iron Bear Project, an iron ore project with a focus on green steel production.

Paul Berend, Cyclone Metals CEO, said that the small-scale production of DR pellets has begun, and it is crucial for green steel production. The demand was expected to be high in the following years as many direct reduction steel plants are being built in the Middle East, the US, and Canada.

DR pellets are raw materials used in direct reduction steel production, which is a technology that uses natural gas or hydrogen as a reductant rather than coal used in traditional blast furnace steel production to produce steel. Therefore, the carbon footprint of DR steelmaking is much lower than blast furnace steelmaking.