Mesabi Metallics is pairing its first iron concentrate production with plans for a sweeping $5 billion expansion, presenting the two developments at sharply different events in Itasca County.

CEO Joe Broking outlined the expansion during an Itasca County Board meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 15, attended by fewer than a dozen people.

Two days later, the company staged a far louder display at its mine near Nashwauk before a crowd of more than 100.

Mesabi blasted apart 1.3 million tons of rock while red, white and blue dust rose into the air.

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The event commemorated the company’s first concentrate production and a $770 million loan from the Export Import Bank of the United States, known as EXIM.

Broking said Mesabi is on “the precipice of production” for its first iron ore pellets.

The project is described as the first new Iron Range mine in 50 years, but the company is already pursuing financing and further expansion.

Massive American flags were attached to Mesabi’s 400-ton haul trucks as Broking announced production of the company’s first iron concentrate.

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That concentrate still must be turned into pellets, fired and reduced before becoming a final product.

Mesabi originally planned to produce pellets by September.

At the blast event, the company said all concentrators would be operational next month, with pellet production capabilities following soon afterward.

The $770 million EXIM loan completes Mesabi’s $2.5 billion in project funding, according to Broking. EXIM Chairman John Jovanovic said the loan fits the bank’s mission of supporting American companies competing around the world.

“We help deliver freedom, prosperity all throughout the world by way of American companies winning around the globe,” Jovanovic said.

EXIM could provide Mesabi Metallics with as much as $10 billion in total financing, according to a statement from Congressman Pete Stauber that EXIM shared Thursday.

Federal officials at the event emphasized an America First approach and praised the Trump administration’s support for mining.

David Copley, a former mining executive and senior director for global supply chain in the National Security Council, called the project a “big, beautiful greenfield iron mine.”

“President Trump gets it,” Copley said.

He added, “Minerals are the foundational building blocks of everything we need for our re-industrialization efforts, and we cannot rely on our geopolitical competitors for access to these materials.”

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Essar Group, the India-based owner of Mesabi Metallics, previously operated the project through Essar Steel.

That company filed for bankruptcy in 2016 and reemerged as Mesabi Metallics the following year.

State Rep. Roger Skraba, R-Ely, said he did not object to foreign ownership as long as the mine brought industry and people to his constituency.

“Are they here for a quick hit and go, or are they here for the long run?” he said.

At the quieter county meeting, Broking called the proposed $5 billion expansion the next investment phase for Mesabi Metallics and Itasca County.

He said it would create 500 new jobs and lift the project’s total cost to $7.5 billion.

Mesabi plans to file for expansion permits by the end of the year, although Broking acknowledged the company’s history of aggressive schedules and possible delays.

Of the planned investment, $3.1 billion would expand annual pellet production capacity from 7 million tons to 18 million tons.

The remaining $1.9 billion would finance a direct reduced iron plant.

Such furnaces use gases including hydrogen or carbon to strip oxygen from iron and are considered a green steel practice.

Broking also asked county commissioners to help address what he called “gating items” standing in the way of the expansion.

His leading priority was restoring mineral leases covering 2,600 acres that the Minnesota DNR revoked in 2021 after extensive missed deadlines.

The DNR transferred those leases to Cleveland Cliffs, another Iron Range mining company, in 2023.

Mesabi is currently suing Cleveland Cliffs for damages in a jury trial following a monopoly lawsuit, while the County Board has already sent the DNR a letter supporting the leases’ return.

Broking additionally sought more efficient permitting and an end to mandatory environmental impact statements in Minnesota, pointing to Mesabi’s use of electric equipment and its decarbonization goals.

The Board said assistance with permit reform would be included among its discussion priorities for next year.

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