Mesabi Metallics plans $15B lower-carbon steel mill in Iowa using DRI and electric arc furnaces

Mesabi Metallics, owned by India's Essar Group, announced a $15 billion steel plant in southeast Iowa. The facility will use natural gas to produce direct reduced iron (DRI) and feed it into electric arc furnaces, avoiding coal-based blast furnaces. It will source iron ore from the company's Minnesota mine and aims to produce about 10 million tons of steel per year, with production targeted to start in 2030. The project aligns with broader efforts to cut emissions from steelmaking, one of the heaviest industrial polluters. It also comes as Cleveland-Cliffs continues to invest in an aging blast furnace in Ohio, while Hyundai is building a similar DRI-to-EAF mill in Louisiana. Questions remain about rail logistics and whether green hydrogen could later replace natural gas to make the process even cleaner.