Plans for a “direct reduced iron” manufacturing plant in the Twin Ports region recently cleared a hurdle.

The Douglas County Board of Supervisors approved an agreement late last week with the city of Superior, Wisconsin and its Redevelopment Authority, on behalf of Reston, Virginia-based International Metallics Corporation (IMC), according to a report by Mesabi Daily News.

The deal marks the first step in a process of transferring an industrial site to the city's Redevelopment Authority, and it allows IMC to progress with plans to build a “direct reduced iron” plant there, the newspaper reported. (Direct reduced iron is made through a process involving natural gas and iron ore pellets; the iron ore would likely come from Minnesota’s Iron Range.)

At full capacity, IMC’s proposed $800 million facility would reportedly produce about 2.5 million tons of “hot briquetted iron” each year and employ roughly 100 people. Current plans call for the facility to begin operation in 2017.