Minnesota Governor Gives Taconite Producer Final Offer to Repay Loan
12/29/2015 - Essar Steel Minnesota is reviewing a newly proposed timetable for repaying a US$66 million public loan on a project that hasn’t panned out the way officials had hoped.
According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton is proposing that the steelmaker repay the loan in quarterly payments through 2020. Dayton called the proposed schedule a "final offer."
Minnesota loaned the company the money in 2004 in support of its US$1.9 billion iron ore processing plant and integrated steel mill project in Nashwauk, hoping that it would create hundreds of construction, mining and manufacturing jobs to the region, the newspaper reported.
However, the project has advanced in fits and starts, and Essar has shelved plans for the integrated mill. The loan was meant to help pay for roads, railroads and utilities to support the mill. The taconite facility, meanwhile, is to be competed in the second half of 2016.
The repayment schedule has been extended several times in recent years amid the project’s stumbles.
Essar Steel told the newspaper that is reviewing Minnesota’s proposal and “will respond in due course."
Minnesota loaned the company the money in 2004 in support of its US$1.9 billion iron ore processing plant and integrated steel mill project in Nashwauk, hoping that it would create hundreds of construction, mining and manufacturing jobs to the region, the newspaper reported.
However, the project has advanced in fits and starts, and Essar has shelved plans for the integrated mill. The loan was meant to help pay for roads, railroads and utilities to support the mill. The taconite facility, meanwhile, is to be competed in the second half of 2016.
The repayment schedule has been extended several times in recent years amid the project’s stumbles.
Essar Steel told the newspaper that is reviewing Minnesota’s proposal and “will respond in due course."
