[Camden sues scrap recycler EMR over unpaid community donations]

Mesabi Metallics formally launched Minnesota's first new taconite mine in 50 years at its Nashwauk facility in late September 2026. The $2.5 billion project targeted its first major ore extraction on September 17, using explosives to dislodge an estimated 1.3 million tons of high-grade ore. The facility is designed to produce 7 million tons of Direct Reduction (DR) grade iron ore pellets annually, optimized for ultra-low impurities to specifically supply lower-emission electric arc furnaces across the US market.

According to the American Iron and Steel Institute, US domestic raw steel production reached 1.845 million net tons in the week ending September 26, 2026, up 3.4% from the previous week. The national capacity utilization rate simultaneously rose to 80.5%. Adjusted year-to-date production through late September stands at 70.166 million net tons at an average utilization rate of 79.1%, representing a 5.3% volume increase over the same period last year.

President Donald Trump announced a 15 billion USD steel plant in Iowa to be built by Mesabi Metallics, a Minnesota company owned by India's Essar Group. Fully built out, it is slated to produce 10 million tonnes of steel a year, which Trump described as the largest steel plant in the United States. Production is projected to begin in 2030, fed by a new 2.5 billion USD iron ore mine that Mesabi developed along Minnesota's Mesabi iron range; the White House said the steel will be produced from start to finish in the United States. Trump credited the 50% tariffs he imposed on steel imports last year for the investment, saying companies build in the US to avoid paying them. He also cited his approval of Nippon Steel's takeover of U.S. Steel. CEO Joe Broking called it a major moment for US-made steel, supplying national defence, cars and trucks, shipbuilding, appliances, energy and infrastructure.