Iron ore resources in the US are mainly low-grade taconite-type ores that require beneficiation and agglomeration to make them commercially viable for steel production. As such, around 70% of the country’s steel production comes from scrap, while the rest is increasingly relying on imports.
According to Laureen Meroueh, founder and CEO of Hertha Metals, there is another way. The Texas-based startup, which closed a $133.6 million Series A funding in September 2026, has developed a proprietary platform technology powered by natural gas, hydrogen, and electricity to enable steel production from any grade of iron ore or waste oxide, including fines and lumps.
In this episode of The Green Steel Challenge, Laureen tells co-hosts Astrid Korf and James Moss about Hertha Metals’ plans for the future of reaching 2 million tonnes/year capacity. Delving deeper into how the technology works, she explains why the company decided to specialise in high-purity iron for rare earth magnets, one of the fastest-growing markets in the US as it decouples from the Chinese supply chain.
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