Business

Layoffs hit Boston Metal as company plans Woburn shutdown

The climate-friendly steel startup will cut 71 positions beginning March 14.

Workers at Boston Metal, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2023, in Woburn. Steven Senne / AP, File

February 24, 2026

2 minutes to read

The carbon-free steel production company, Boston Metal, notified the state on Friday that it is laying off 71 workers and closing all of its facilities in Woburn.

Boston Metal, based in Woburn, also owns a separate Brazilian company that operates independently.

In a letter to the state, the company said that “an unforeseen industrial accident” happened at its manufacturing facility in Brazil on Jan. 30. The incident resulted in a “critical equipment failure” and halted industrial operations.

The incident came as a surprise, since the company designed and operated the systems to prevent it. No other incident like this had ever taken place in the company’s larger-scale production systems.

Because of the accident, the company missed a “key operational milestone” required to close a pending financing deal. That, in turn, cut off access to the committed funding it needed to keep the Woburn facilities running.

“In light of these sudden, dramatic, and unexpected circumstances outside the company’s control,” the company was unable to provide a 60-day advance notice of the mass layoff.

The company will be closing its pilot plant and research and development building at 6A Gill St., its main office at 10 Sixth Road, and its warehouse at 80 Commerce Way.

The notice said that the layoffs will commence on March 14.

The startup was founded in 2013 and has raised over $420 million since July 2025.

In a 2026 fact sheet, the company reported having over 300 employees.

The company says its production uses a patented Molten Oxide Electrolysis platform technology that produces steel without carbon emissions and recovers valuable metals from mining waste.

Boston Metal did not immediately return a request for additional information on Monday.

In an email to the Boston Business Journal, the company said that it has already undergone a restructuring to concentrate its resources on the metals business. However, the cost and complexity of developing Molten Oxide Electrolysis steel have outpaced the company’s current revenue and available capital.

“We continue to believe in Boston Metal’s technology and market opportunity, but the current situation requires a sharpened focus and significantly lower burn rate to succeed,” the company said to BBJ.

The company told BBJ that in the coming months, it will prioritize restoring operations in Brazil and scaling its critical metals business in Brazil, the U.S., and internationally.