Hertha Metals makes steel and high-purity iron using a proprietary single-step pyrometallurgical process ("Flex-HER") that converts low-grade iron ore — including sub-60% purity fines and millscale — directly into molten steel or 99.97%+ purity iron, without coal or multiple processing stages. The furnace runs on natural gas today (cutting emissions by over 50% vs. blast furnace) and can swap to hydrogen with no hardware changes for up to 98% emissions reduction. The process is 30% more energy efficient than conventional methods and accepts cheap, previously unusable domestic feedstocks. Its first commercial beachhead is supplying high-purity iron to US rare earth magnet producers: NdFeB permanent magnets are 70% iron by mass, and over 90% of that iron currently comes from China. Hertha's pilot plant in Conroe, TX has run continuously at 1 tonne/day since late 2024. It was founded in 2022 by Dr. Laureen Meroueh, an MIT-trained mechanical engineer and materials scientist. Buyers are US magnet manufacturers, defense primes, EV suppliers, and eventually steel micro-mills.