NASHWAUK — On a warm evening in mid-June, it was hard to find a parking spot in Nashwauk.
Nearly 400 people flocked to City Hall to check the progress on the first new mine on the Iron Range in 50 years. Three coach buses looped the footprint of the former Butler Taconite Mine in waves.
In the second row, Nicholas Graf, 7, of Cohasset quietly described the sights to himself.
“Cool,” he said, drawing out the O’s, as the bus approached the pellet plant, the first building of the tour. “Trees. Buses and cars. A giant crane. And even more pillars. A sign.”
The site is dotted with large, partially completed rust-red metal buildings.
“You see a lot of areas like this where there’s steel laying down,” said Derek Prebeck, pellet plant manager.
“I put it like a kid building a Lego set. You take the bag of Legos, and you spread it all out so you can figure out what piece goes where, and then you go build what you’re building. And that’s really what the guys are doing.”
Nicholas and his mom, Rachel, spent their day touring mines, ending with Mesabi Metallics.
Rachel said the size of the facility stuck out to her. So did the energy.
“It’s been a long time coming,” she said. “I used to work for Nashwauk Ambulance, and they’ve had this area for a long time. So, it’s fun to finally see it turning into fruition.”
Indian steel company Essar broke ground on the site in 2008. Essar Steel went bankrupt in 2016. A reorganized version of the company, Essar Group, regained control of the project a few years later.
Now, they say they’re on track to start mining this winter and enter production early next year.
“I have a lot of conviction for that date,” said Joe Broking, Mesabi Metallics CEO, at a town hall after the tour. “Things happen in projects. Could it slip? Yeah. It could slip by a couple of months.”
'Different now than it was before'
Over 100 people packed into Nashwauk City Hall to listen to Broking and Mayor Greg Heyblom.
Broking, who is from the Range, said community is everything for Mesabi Metallics. They’ve supported community projects. They already pay $15,000 a year to Nashwauk. When they’re up and running, he said taxes will generate $11 million for local schools and $11 million for Itasca County.
“They’re going out into the communities to try and help these communities where, you know, the people are going to be employees some day of the plant,” Heyblom told the packed room. “So that has been the part that is different now than it was before. They’ve really engaged, and they’ve done it in a very sincere manner.”
Mesabi Metallics estimates it will have 350 or so employees when it’s fully operational. Broking roughly estimated about 150 will be management, and the rest will be hourly union workers.
“We’ve tapped into expertise across the entire Iron Range to build a team of Navy SEAL iron ore miners. Some of the best in the world,” Broking said.
Tom Whiteside owns an equipment sales and rental business in Hibbing. He and his father-in-law went on the tours and said they’re excited about a new mining project.
“But we also want to make sure that there’s good union jobs that are happening at this location in the future,” Whiteside said. “One of the concerns that was brought up, not going to lie, is that they are planning to have autonomous drivers.”
Broking announced the company has bought its mining equipment. That includes the largest haul trucks in the world: 400 tons. Most haul trucks on the Range are 240 tons.
The trucks Mesabi Metallics bought have autonomous capabilities. They won’t be driverless right away, but the company will be working toward that.
“Materially improve safety. Materially improve efficiency,” Broking said of the autonomous trucks. “We have to adapt, we have to evolve. And Mesabi Metallics will lead the way in innovation.”
'Green Steel revolution'
The company says it also plans to lead the way in sustainability, driving the “Green Steel revolution.” Green steel is a broad term, generally referring to steel that is produced with fewer emissions or without the use of fossil fuels.
Broking explained Mesabi Metallics will produce higher-grade pellets and direct reduced iron, which, when fed into electric arc furnaces, results in significantly lower carbon emissions. A majority of steel in the U.S. is made using electric furnaces, but they are typically fed scrap metal.
“That’s really why this is exciting,” he said. “Not just that we’re building a pellet plant. It’s because we’re going to be making the steel of the future.”
The company also claims it will be the first mine in the state with no water discharge. Its crushed ore stockpiles will be fully enclosed to reduce dust, and it will use the “best-available” air pollution control systems to limit the spread of mercury and other contaminants.
As of March, the project was still awaiting multiple state and federal permits, according to an environmental review need determination from the Department of Natural Resources.
The project first underwent environmental review in 2007, with additional review in 2011. The DNR decided in March additional review was not needed because there had not been any substantial changes that would affect the environmental impact.
Mesabi Metallics currently operates under a state Permit to Mine first issued in 2007 and amended in 2012 and 2016. That permit allows the company to include an open pit taconite mine, crusher/concentrator plant and pelletizer.
The company is also permitted for a direct reduced iron facility and an electric arc furnace, which would produce 2.5 million tons of steel slabs each year. Broking said there’s a possibility for those in the future.
'Cautiously optimistic'
In his eyes, Mesabi Metallics is the state of Minnesota’s favorite iron ore mining company – a far cry from when then-Gov. Mark Dayton tried to terminate Essar’s mineral leases.
He applauded the efforts of those in the company and the broader community for building grassroots support.
"People ask me all the time, ‘How are you guys changing? How have you changed the perceptions of people? How have you changed the state’s perception about the project?’ It’s because of you,” he said.
Whiteside from Hibbing agreed the company is doing a better job connecting with the community this time around.
“You’re always cautiously optimistic. You never know what’s going to happen. We’ve been told these things before, there’s no doubt about that,” he said.
“But I’m hopeful. I’m hopefully optimistic. We want the jobs in our region. We want the tax base. We want the mining to happen in our region.”
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