Smelting of direct reduced iron (DRI) has specific implications for the refractory lining of the electric arc furnaces because the DRI still contains all the gangue from the iron ore. When taking into account that regular DRI pellets have gangue content of up to 10%, a large amount of slag is created during the smelting process. It is a very interesting question how the existing basic refractory lining concepts for electric arc furnacs and submerged arc furnaces (or open bath furnaces) may change due to the new process conditions. An international group of experts from the steel and refractory industries, OEM, and research institutions will discuss this in a panel at UNITECR.