India’s Essar Group is planning an additional $650 million investment at its iron ore project in Minnesota, US, Essar Group, director, Prashant Ruia said in a statement on Monday, January 27.
“The US is a crucial market for us, and our investments reflect our long-term commitment to the region. In northern Minnesota, we are building a 7 million mt per year capacity iron ore mining and pelletization facility with 1.3 billion high grade iron ore reserves,” he said.
Mr. Ruia said that $1.7 billion has already been invested in the iron ore project and an additional $650 million being planned in line with the Trump administration’s economic priorities.
The project includes the construction of an open-pit mine, a concentrator and a 7 million mt per year iron ore pellet plant, which is expected to be the only facility in the US to produce standard, fluxed and DR grade pellets.
The pellet plant and its associated slurry pipeline are expected to be developed in two stages. The first stage is expected to produce 4.1 million mt of iron ore pellets a year and the second stage will produce an additional 2.9 million mt per year.