Ruias-promoted Essar Steel Holdings (ESH) said it would invest in excess of USD 4 billion in North America, including USD 1.6 billion in a mine-based steel plant in the US state of Minnesota.
“Essar remains committed to North America with investments of over USD 4 billion in the region,” Essar Group Chairman Sashi Ruia said in a company release.
ESH would invest USD 500 million in the next five years for brownfield expansion of its plant in Canada–Essar Steel Algoma– which it acquired last year.
The company also plans to set up a greenfield steel plant in Trinidad & Tobago, for which no concrete investment commitment has been made so far.
The Minnesota plant, for which groundbreaking ceremony was held yesterday, will have 2.5 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) steel-making capacity, a company spokesperson said.
ESH, a subsidiary of Essar Global Ltd, last year acquired Minnesota Steel, which has been rechristened as Essar Steel Minnesota (ESM).
ESM has more than 1.4 billion tonnes of iron ore reserves in the Mesabi region, which has one of the largest deposits of the mineral in the US.
“Besides iron ore mining and production, the project will include a concentration plant, a pellet plant, a direct-reduced iron (DRI) plant and steel-making facilities,” the release said.
At full production, ESM would employ nearly 500 people, it added.