Details weren't announced pending ratification meetings, which are expected take place in coming weeks. But the union says the deal includes only some of the company's Indiana workers.

Steelworkers say they're not benefiting from the industry's rising prices and profits, brought on partly by the Trump administration's tariffs on steel imports.

Company and government officials say the project will help preserve Gary Works' nearly 3,900 steelworker jobs and could help ensure the 112-year-old mill lasts another century.

A state analysis of local wind patterns suggest that the lead released by the mill complex could be blowing north and west toward Chicago or south toward the Indiana community of Chesterton.

Raw steel production in Indiana rose by 1.2 million tons last year to 24.4 million tons.

The three-year project will focus on how to add larger amounts of silicon, which helps conserve energy, to the small steel components of electric motors.

For example, higher U.S. taxes on Chinese steel imports could make China chooser to buy fewer American products, including those from Indiana.

The first installment of the new Global Steel Trade Monitor ranks China first in the world for steel exports, and the U.S. first for imports.