HIBBING, Minn. (AP) -- More steelworkers are returning to Hibbing Taconite as the idled plant prepares for an April restart.
Frank Jenko, president of United Steelworkers Local 2705, confirmed Tuesday that more workers are back. Jenko says by mid-March the majority -- if not all -- of Hibbing Taconite's 540 hourly employees should be back.
The plan is to restart production during the first week of April, with all three lines running by the end of next month.
Jenko says production this year is expected to reach 5.4 million tons, which is capacity for the months of April through December.
HibTac has been idle since last May. Workers started returning to the taconite plant in January.
