US President Donald Trump on Monday unveiled India-based Essar Group's plans to build a massive steel plant in Iowa, with an investment of $15 billion.
Trump made the announcement in the Oval Office, with Essar Group co-founder Ravi Ruia and his son, Rewant, by his side. The investment is planned by Mesabi Metallics, a mining and resource development company based in the United States’ Minnesota.
"Today, we're thrilled to announce that Mesabi Metallics will be building the largest steel plant in American history in the great state of Iowa," Trump said.
Deep Dive
What will the new steel plant in Iowa produce and when will it start operations?
How many jobs will the Iowa steel plant create and where will its raw materials come from?
Why is the Iowa steel plant significant in the context of the American steel industry?
While Mesabi Metallics is a US-based company, it is owned by the Essar Group, with Rewant Ruia serving as its chairman.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, John Jovanovic, chair of the Export-Import Bank, and David Copley, senior director for Global Supply Chain, were among those present at the announcement at the White House.
What Rewant Ruia said
Rewant Ruia thanked Trump "for bringing back the importance of building things in America."
{{/usCountry}}Rewant Ruia thanked Trump "for bringing back the importance of building things in America."
{{/usCountry}}“While I was born in India, I went to high school in New York, college in Boston and did my MBA in California. I have spent half my life here, so announcing this investment today is... a true homecoming for me,” he said at the Oval Office event.
Essar Group's US footprint
A White House official said that Mesabi Metallics is building the plant with the aim of starting production by 2030. According to the official, the facility is expected to produce 10 million tonnes of steel a year and create as many as 1,750 permanent jobs in the state of Iowa.
The plant will use iron ore from a new mine that the company invested $2.5 billion to build in Minnesota’s Nashwauk. The mine will produce about 7.5 million tonnes of iron per year and create about 350 jobs in the state, the White House official said, noting that it will be the first new iron mine in the US in 50 years.
The 50-year claim was also made by Ruia at the Oval Office event.
The mine is based in Nashwauk, Minnesota's Mesabi Iron Range, which stretches 80 to 100 miles and contributed about 60 per cent of total iron ore production in the US during the 20th century.
"This plant will use the latest technology and will compete head-to-head with any steel plant in the world on size, quality and cost," Rewant Ruia said.