Washington, Sept 29:
US President Donald Trump has announced that India-based Essar Group, through its US subsidiary Mesabi Metallics, will build what the White House describes as the largest steel plant in American history in Iowa, involving an investment of $15 billion.
Trump made the announcement at the Oval Office on Monday in the presence of Essar Group co-founder Ravi Ruia and his son Rewant Ruia, chairman of Mesabi Metallics. Trump said the project would bring large-scale steel manufacturing to the US and described it as a major addition to American industrial capacity.
âToday, we’re thrilled to announce that Mesabi Metallics will be building the largest steel plant in American history in the great state of Iowa,â Trump said during the announcement.
The plant, which will be located in southeast Iowa, is expected to begin steel production in 2030. Once fully operational, it is projected to produce about 10 million tonnes of steel annually. The first phase is expected to have a production capacity of about 7.5 million tonnes a year, with subsequent expansion taking the capacity to around 10 million tonnes.
The project is expected to create about 1,750 permanent jobs in Iowa, besides supporting up to 6,000 construction jobs during the development phase. The White House has projected that the wider project could contribute about $95 billion to the US economy over its first decade.
Rewant Ruia thanked Trump for supporting the project and said it reflected the importance of building industrial capacity in the US. He described the proposed operation as a fully integrated American supply chain, with American iron ore transported by American railroads to an American steel plant and processed by an American workforce.
The Iowa steel plant will be supplied with iron ore from a new mine developed by Mesabi Metallics in Minnesota’s Mesabi Iron Range. The company has invested about $2.5 billion in the mine, which is expected to produce around 7.5 million tonnes of iron ore annually and create about 350 jobs in Minnesota.
The Minnesota mine has been described by the White House as the first new iron ore mine in the United States in 50 years. The Mesabi Iron Range, which stretches for roughly 80 to 100 miles across northern Minnesota, was historically one of the country’s major sources of iron ore and accounted for about 60 per cent of total US iron ore production during the 20th century.
The integrated project is intended to take the production chain from mining to finished steel within the United States. Mesabi Metallics is expected to use the Minnesota ore to supply the Iowa facility, creating a linked mining and steel manufacturing operation across the two states.
The announcement was attended by US Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Export-Import Bank chairman John Jovanovic and David Copley, senior director for Global Supply Chain. Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds and other state and federal officials were also present.