Essar Steel Minnesota Files For Bankruptcy

Essar Steel Minnesota, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection without fulfilling promises made to the state to be the state’s first new taconite plant in years and the state’s first directly reduced iron plant.

Essar Steel Minnesota filed in federal court in Delaware immediately after Governor Mark Dayton refused to extend a deadline to terminate Essar’s state mineral leases that gave them access to the iron ore at the proposed mine site outside Nashwauk.

Dayton endorsed Cliffs Natural Resources to take on the project after recently meeting with Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves. Goncalves has made several public comments about his interest in the Nashwauk site if Cliffs can get the state mineral leases.

Essar Steel Minnesota is owned by Essar Global Fund Ltd., which is based in Mumbai, India.