NASHWAUK — Mesabi Metallics shared its achievements — and its goals for the future — at two rather different events within two days.
One event was an Itasca County Board meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 15. Less than a dozen people attended. Mesabi Metallics CEO Joe Broking outlined a $5 billion company expansion. After delivering his update, Broking quietly exited the room as the Board turned its attention to other county matters.
At the other event two days later at the mine near Nashwauk, Mesabi blasted apart 1.3 million tons of rock and launched red, white and blue plumes of dust high into the air before a crowd of over 100 people.
The blast event commemorated the company's first concentrate production and a $770 million loan from Export-Import Bank of the United States.
Mesabi Metallics is on "the precipice of production" for its first iron ore pellets, according to Broking. But the company is already looking to the future, eyeing financing and expansions for the first new Iron Range mine in 50 years.
Production and financing move Mesabi forward
The blast event on Thursday marked an important step forward in the mine's production timeline. Flanked by massive American flags fixed to Mesabi's 400-ton haul trucks, Broking announced the company had created its first iron concentrate.
The concentrate must still be made into pellets, fired and reduced before being considered a final product. Mesabi originally planned to produce pellets by September. At the event, the company stated all concentrators will be operational next month with the pellet production capabilities following soon after.
The event was also commemorated with several speakers from the federal government.
The Export-Import Bank of the United States, or EXIM, will provide a $770 million loan to the company. Broking confirmed Thursday the loan completes Mesabi's $2.5 billion of project funding.
EXIM Chairman John Jovanovic said the loan aligns with the bank's goal of supporting American businesses.
"Franklin Roosevelt started EXIM to help drag America out of the Great Depression," he said. "We help deliver freedom, prosperity all throughout the world by way of American companies winning around the globe."
EXIM could provide up to $10 billion of total financing to Mesabi Metallics,according to a statement by Congressman Pete Stauber shared Thursday by EXIM.
At the event, several federal officials emphasized an “America First” sentiment. They also praised the Trump administration for its support of the mining industry.
David Copley, a former mining executive and senior director for global supply chain in the National Security Council, called the project a "big, beautiful greenfield iron mine."
"President Trump gets it," he said. "Minerals are the foundational building blocks of everything we need for our re-industrialization efforts, and we cannot rely on our geopolitical competitors for access to these materials.”
Essar Group, which owns Mesabi Metallics, is based in India. The group's original mining company, Essar Steel, filed for bankruptcy in 2016 and reemerged as Mesabi Metallics the following year.
State Rep. Roger Skraba, R-Ely, who attended the event, recalled the early days of the new company.
"When we first met with these folks, my advice to the owners was, 'Don't do what you did last time,'" Skraba said. "'I'm going to trust you now.'"
Skraba said he didn't mind the mine's foreign ownership so long as it brought industry and people to his constituency.
"Money is money," he said. "Are they here for a quick hit and go, or are they here for the long run? That's what I'm looking at."
"Next phase of investment"
Two days before the blast event, Broking stood before the Itasca County Board to discuss Mesabi's future. It was a meeting without crowds, food trucks, and pyrotechnics. But Broking came armed with a big number: $5 billion.
He called it "the next phase of investment" in Mesabi Metallics and Itasca County.
The expansion, he told the commissioners, would bring 500 new jobs to the area and raise the project's total costs to $7.5 billion.
Broking said the company plans to file for permits related to the expansion by the end of the year. He also acknowledged the company's tendency for delayed schedules.
"As many of you know, we set aggressive targets from time to time," he said. "Will we hit the end of the year? We're going to try that. The team is going to work extremely hard. Is there a chance that it slips into January? Of course."
Of the $5 billion allocated to the expansion, Broking said $3.1 billion would go to expand Mesabi Metallics' pellet production capabilities from 7 million to 18 million tons per year.
The other $1.9 billion will go to building a direct reduced iron plant. Direct reduced iron furnaces use gases like hydrogen or carbon to strip oxygen from iron. DRI furnaces have gained popularity in the steel industry and are considered a "green steel" practice.
Broking said the investment would give Mesabi — and the Iron Range — an advantage across the steel production process.
"We want to lead the way there, not just from a supply chain perspective, but ultimately to integrate further downstream to produce these high-quality products," he said.
Mesabi's ‘gating items’
After Broking outlined the expansion, he asked the Itasca County commissioners for assistance with tackling issues he said impeded Mesabi's expansion plans. He called the obstacles "gating items."
He named the return of Mesabi's revoked mineral leases as a top priority.
"We could be mining them right now," he said. "We could realize on these leases today. These leases set the stage for this $5 billion in incremental investment."
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resource s revoked leases for 2,600 acres in 2021 following extensive missed deadlines by Mesabi Metallics. The DNR then handed the leases over to Cleveland Cliffs, another Iron Range mining company, in 2023.
Mesabi Metallics is currently suing Cleveland Cliffs for damages in a jury trial following a monopoly lawsuit.
The County Board confirmed it already sent a letter of support to the DNR for the leases' return.
Broking also called for "permitting efficiency" and the end of mandatory environmental impact statements in Minnesota.
Broking said the statements were unnecessary because of the company's goal of decarbonizing the steel industry. Mesabi Metallics largely uses electric equipment.
"We are required to do an EIS, even though we all know the implications of an investment like this on the sustainability of steel making," Broking said. "Reduction in carbon emissions, and the lowest cost structure in the world. How often do you get to put those two things together?"
Following Broking’s remarks, the Board stated it would include assisting Mesabi with permit reform in its list of discussion priorities for next year.
