Essar Group-backed Mesabi Metallics will invest $18 billion to build an integrated steel manufacturing business in the United States, including a proposed $15 billion steel complex in Iowa and nearly $3 billion already invested in an iron ore mine and pelletising facility in Minnesota.
US President Donald J Trump announced the investment on Tuesday, while Mesabi Metallics described it as the largest single-location investment in an integrated steel complex in US history. The company said the project would create a domestic supply chain in which iron ore mined in Minnesota is converted into steel in Iowa.
The planned Iowa complex is expected to create more than 8,000 construction jobs. Once operational, it is expected to employ at least 1,750 full-time workers. Mesabi Metallics said the investment is expected to generate $95 billion in total economic output during construction and the first 10 years of operations.
The upstream part of the supply chain is based at the company’s mine and pelletising facility in Nashwauk on Minnesota’s Mesabi Iron Range. Mesabi Metallics said nearly $3 billion has been invested in the site to date. The mine is the first new iron ore mine built in the United States in 50 years, according to the company.
The Minnesota facility is expected to produce direct-reduction-grade iron ore pellets, branded Patriot Pellet, for supply to the planned Iowa steel complex. More than 1,500 construction workers are currently at the Minnesota site, alongside more than 200 full-time employees. Full-time employment at the mine is expected to reach 350 once it is fully operational.
The Iowa complex will use direct reduced iron and electric arc furnace technology. The electric arc furnaces will use hot direct reduced iron produced at the facility along with scrap steel. The company said this combination would reduce energy use and emissions compared with traditional coal-fired blast furnaces.
The project links mining, pelletising and steelmaking across two US states rather than relying on separate supply chains for raw materials and finished steel. That structure is intended to give the company control over the movement of iron ore from extraction to steel production, while positioning the Iowa facility as the downstream manufacturing centre.
Mesabi Metallics’ announcement provides employment and economic-output estimates but does not specify an operational start date for the Iowa complex in the supplied statement. The company’s next steps for construction, commissioning and production will determine how the proposed investment moves from announcement to an operating integrated steel facility.
