Steel Product Producers
Essar revives long-delayed Mesabi iron ore project, targets 2026 for commercial start
Written by Laura Miller
January 28, 2025
Nearly 20 years in the making, a new iron ore project on the Mesabi Iron Range in northern Minnesota is showing new signs of life.
In an interview last week, Essar Group Director Prashant Ruia told India’s Business Standard newspaper that the company is finalizing an additional $650 million investment for a 7-million-metric-ton-per-year iron ore mining and pelletizing facility in Nashwauk, Minn.
The DR-grade iron ore project has been a long time coming. India’s Essar Steel broke ground in 2008. Still, little progress was made over the years, leading to Essar Steel Minnesota’s bankruptcy in 2016. That and other issues are well documented by retired SMU reporter Sandy Williams in this 2021 article.
Some $1.7 billion has already been invested in the project, which now operates as Mesabi Metallics, a subsidiary of Essar Global. The project has 1.3 billion mt of high-grade ore reserves. If completed, it would be the first new mine and pellet plant in Minnesota in 50 years.
“The US is a crucial market for us, and our investments reflect our long-term commitment to the region,” Ruia told the Standard. He added that the project would also play a key part in the American industry’s transition to low-carbon steel production.
The company is “on track to start commercial operations in the first quarter of 2026,” Mesabi Metallics’ President and CEO Joe Broking said in November.
As of mid-January, the company had about 400 building trade union workers and employees on site working to complete the project. It plans to create 350 full-time jobs and more than 600 construction jobs.
A post on X by the company shows the construction project’s progress over the course of 2024.
Broking told the Minnesota Reformer news outlet last year that, in the long term, the company plans to construct up to two DRI plants and, eventually, a steel mill.
Mesabi Metallics had not responded to a request for more information as of this story’s publication.
Essar recently touted Mesabi Metallics’ fifth consecutive year of making grant repayments to the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED).
DEED had provided a ~$64 million grant to Itasca County for infrastructure development related to the project, meant to support investment and jobs on the Mesabi Iron Range. After coming out of bankruptcy and failing to reach certain milestones, Mesabi Metallics agreed in 2020 to repay $70 million to Itasca County.
Mesabi Metallics repaid $7.25 million at the end of 2024, bringing its total grant repayment to $42 million.
Laura Miller
Read more from Laura MillerLatest in Steel Product Producers
AISI: Raw steel production ticks back down
US raw steel output declined last week after increasing the week prior, according to the latest data from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI). Output has see-sawed from week to week since mid-August. Still, it has remained historically strong over the past four months and has held near multi-year highs since June. Domestic mills […]
Gerdau reshapes North American footprint as tariffs squeeze long steel imports
Gerdau is repositioning its North American business to capitalize on a sharp shift in steel trade flows driven by elevated tariffs across the US, Canada, and Mexico.
Warrior to expand met coal mining after securing $46.8M federal land lease
Warrior Met Coal has paid the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) $46.8 million in a lease sale of federal land it will use to expand its operations in Tuscaloosa County, Ala.
CRU: Interest in AHMSA is growing
Representatives of at least six companies interested in acquiring AHMSA have reportedly begun to carry out physical inspections of the insolvent company’s assets.
Jack Biegalski joins Esmark Steel Group as CEO
Jack Biegalski, former president and CEO of American Heavy Plates, has been named the new CEO of the Esmark Steel Group.