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MINNEAPOLIMEDIA NEWS | $15 Billion Iowa Steel Mill Will Depend on Iron Ore Mined in Minnesota
NASHWAUK, MN (September 29, 2026). Iron ore extracted from Minnesota’s first new taconite mine in approximately 50 years will supply a proposed $15 billion steel mill in eastern Iowa, according to an announcement from President Donald Trump and Mesabi Metallics.
Mesabi Metallics, which is owned by India-based Essar Group, plans to begin steel production at the Iowa facility in 2030. The company and the White House project that the plant will create more than 2,000 American jobs and eventually produce approximately 10 million tons of steel annually.
The steel mill will receive iron-ore products from Mesabi’s new $2.5 billion mining and processing complex near Nashwauk. The Minnesota operation has hired more than 200 workers toward a planned permanent workforce of approximately 350.
Company officials say the Iowa development will create a domestic production chain in which raw material is mined in Minnesota and converted into finished steel in the United States.
The announcement provides Mesabi’s Minnesota mine with a potentially enormous customer, but it also generated criticism over the decision to locate the higher-employment steelmaking operation outside Minnesota.
State Rep. Spencer Igo, whose district includes the Nashwauk mine, described the Iowa location as a serious disappointment for the Iron Range. He argued that Minnesota possesses the workers, resources and communities needed to support the investment but has failed to create a sufficiently competitive development environment.
Mesabi CEO Joe Broking said the Iowa mill would strengthen the long-term future of the Minnesota mine. He also said the company is considering an additional hot-briquetted-iron facility in Minnesota.
Before moving forward with that investment, Mesabi is seeking faster environmental permitting, competitive incentives and renewed control over mineral leases that Minnesota transferred to Cleveland-Cliffs in 2023.
The announcement is a major new development following the September opening of the Nashwauk mine, which MinneapoliMedia previously covered. The central question has now shifted from whether the mine will operate to how much of the resulting manufacturing investment Minnesota can retain.
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