Essar to set up mine-based steel plant in N America

Mumbai: Essar Steel Holdings, part of Essar Global, will invest $1.6 billion to establish a mine-based steel plant in Minnesota’s Iron Range.

The project on the Mesabi Range will include iron ore mining, production, concentration plant, pellet plant and steel making facilities. Minnesota Steel has been renamed Essar Steel Minnesota.

In 2007, Essar Steel Holdings acquired Minnesota Steel, which has more than 1.4 billion tonnes of iron ore resources in the Mesabi Range.

At the groundbreaking ceremony near Nashwauk, the Essar Group Chairman, Mr Shashi Ruia, said, “We are excited about starting this project. Today’s groundbreaking is another step towards our goal of building a large presence in the steel sector in the Americas.

“We thank Governor Mr Tim Pawlenty and the local administration for lending their support to our iron range project. Essar remains committed to North America with investments of over $4 billion in the region.”

Essar Steel said the $1.6-billion facility would be North America’s first mine-based steel plant and the single largest investment made in the Mesabi Range in recent times.

The facility is expected to support Essar Steel Algoma plant in Ontario, Canada. In 2007, Essar acquired the plant and announced a capex of $5 million to be spread over five years. Post-acquisition, the Algoma plant capacity has risen from 2.4 million tonnes per annum to 4 mpta.