Essar Lays Foundation for Essar Steel Minnesota
09/22/2008 - Essar Steel Holdings holds groundbreaking ceremony for the steelmaking facility it will build in Minnesota's famous Iron Range as an integral part of Essar Steel Minnesota, LLC, the steelmaking project previously known as Minnesota Steel.
Essar Steel Holdings Ltd held a groundbreaking ceremony last week for the steelmaking facility it has planned to build in Minnesota's famous Iron Range. As pat of the ceremony, Essar also unveiled Essar Steel Minnesota, LLC, the new name for the steelmaking project that was previously known as Minnesota Steel.
Minnesota Steel, which Essar Steel Holdings had acquired in 2007, has more than 1.4 billion tonnes of iron ore resources in the Mesabi Range. Essar’s addition of the new USD 1.6 billion steelmaking facility will be North America's first mine-based steel plant and the single largest investment made in the Mesabi Range in recent times.
“We are excited about starting this project,” said Essar Group Chairman Shashi Ruia. “Today's groundbreaking is another step toward our goal of building a large presence in the steel sector in the Americas.”
In addition to iron ore mining and production, the project will include a concentration plant, a pellet plant, a direct-reduced iron (DRI) plant and steelmaking facilities. At full production Essar Steel Minnesota, which will be located at the site of the former Butler Taconite operation, will employ nearly 500 people.
"We are delighted to start this mine-based project in the prolific Mesabi range, which is one of the largest sources of high quality iron ore for U.S. steelmakers,” said Madhu S Vuppuluri, President and CEO of Essar Minnesota Steel, LLC. “This is integral to our strategy to become an efficient global steelmaking company.”
Production from the new steelmaking facility will also support the Essar Steel Algoma plant in Sault Ste Marie, Ont., which Essar had acquired in 2007. Essar has committed a capex of USD 500 million in the next five years, and has increased the facility’s capacity from 2.4 to 4 million tonnes/year in less than a year. According to the company, the synergies between the Minnesota and Algoma facilities will strengthen its presence as an integrated steelmaker, with high value-added products, in the North American market.
Essar is targeting production of iron ore pellets within about two years from the start of construction. Production of DRI pellets and steel slabs is expected to begin the fifth and the sixth year onwards, respectively.
Essar Global Limited (EGL) is a diversified business corporation with a balanced portfolio of assets straddling the manufacturing and services sectors of Steel, Energy, Power, Communications, Shipping Ports & Logistics, Construction and Mining & Minerals. EGL has a firm value of approximately USD 50 billion and employs more than 40,000 people across offices in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas.
Essar Steel Holdings Ltd is a global producer of steel with a footprint covering India, Canada, USA, the Middle East and Asia. It is a fully integrated flat carbon steel manufacturer—from iron ore to ready-to-market products. Essar Steel has a current capacity of 9 million tonnes per annum (MTPA). With its aggressive expansion plans in India as well as Asia and the Americas, its capacity will go up to 20 to 25 million tonnes/year. Its products find wide acceptance in highly demanding consumer sectors, such as automotive, white goods, construction, engineering and shipbuilding.
In 2007, Essar Steel acquired Algoma Steel, which has a capacity of 4 million tonnes/year, and Minnesota Steel, which controls iron ore resources of over 1.4 billion tonnes. The company is building a steel plant in
Minnesota. In Indonesia, it operates a 400,000 tonnes/year cold rolling complex with a galvanizing line of 150,000 tonnes/year, making it the largest private steel company in that country. Additionally, Essar is setting up a 2-million tonnes/year hot strip mill in Vietnam and a 2.5 -million tonnes/year integrated steel plant in Trinidad & Tobago.
Essar Steel is the largest steel producer in Western India, with a current capacity of 4.6 million tonnes/year at Hazira, Gujarat, and plans to increase this to 10 million tonnes/year. The Indian operations also include an 8 million tonnes/year beneficiation plant at Bailadilla, Chattisgarh, and an 8 million tonnes/year pellet complex at Visakhapatnam. Additionally, Essar is setting up a 6 million tonnes/year integrated steel plant in Paradip, Orissa.
The Essar Steel complex at Hazira in Gujarat, India, houses the world's largest gas-based, single location, sponge iron plant with a capacity of 5.5 million tonnes/year. The complex also houses the steel plant and the 1.4-million tonnes/year cold rolling mill. The steel complex has a complete infrastructure setup, including a captive port, lime plant and oxygen plant.
