Mesabi Metallics has taken preliminary steps to engage with the state of Kentucky as it lays the groundwork for an integrated steel manufacturing facility using direct-reduced iron.
According to employment ads and public filings dating to April 2025, the company is exploring the commonwealth as a potential site. Its activity suggests more than a preliminary interest, but no formal project has been announced.
Mesabi Metallics is permitted to build a DRI facility and electric arc furnace (EAF) on the Iron Range that would produce 2.5 million tons of steel slabs annually. If Kentucky is under serious consideration, it could raise questions about Minnesota’s long-term outlook. The company, however, said its interest is part of due diligence.
“Mesabi Metallics continues to advance our $2.5 billion investment in a 7 million tonne per year premium quality DR grade pellet facility in Nashwauk. When we open later this year we will be the first new mine and pellet plant in 50 years,” the company said in a statement. “As a company we are continuously evaluating potential future investments in Minnesota, Kentucky and other states.”
Electric-arc furnaces are more widely utilized in the southern part of the U.S., with operations like U.S. Steel’s Big River and a Louisiana-based DRI facility run by Nucor. EAFs have been more susceptible to imports and tariffs in recent years, making a domestic manufacturer potentially more cost-effective.
Officials from the Essar Group, the India-based parent company of Mesabi Metallics, registered a subsidiary business under the name Mesabi GreenIron in Kentucky on April 25, 2025. Documents show the company was formed Feb. 18, 2025.
Rakesh Kankanala, the managing director of metals and mining for Essar Capital, and Artem Matyushok, senior managing director of strategy and business development at Essar Capital, were listed as GreenIron’s representatives.
Public records through the Kentucky Legislative Ethics Committee (KLEC) show Mesabi Metallics paid $9,000 in January this year to Babbage Cofounder, a top lobbying firm in the state led by former Kentucky Secretary of State and Auditor Robert Babbach.
The company’s filing indicate $2,500 paid to Robert Babbage, Brian Babbage and Rebecca Hartsough, all lobbyists in the firm. Lobbysit Sarah Wood is scheduled to receive $1,500 of the $9,000 total.
Anoop Nair, who is noted as a contact through the KLEC, is listed on his LinkedIn page as the chief technology officer for Essar Steel and Mesabi GreenIron.
KLEC public documents also track which legislative bills companies are lobbying within the state. It shows Mesabi Metallics has lobbied for two bills so far this session, through Jan. 31.
House Bill 472 would conform to the Kentucky Buy American Act and “require that state and local contracts contain a provision that any iron, steel, or aluminum used in all state and local projects be manufactured in the United States unless a waiver is granted.” The bill could generate more demand for domestic steel within the state.
House Bill 500 is essentially the state’s budget bill, which broadly impacts infrastructure, economics, regulation, labor environment, and more. There are no known amendments or provisions that would fast-track or support a new steel facility within the bill.
Two other bills introduced in Kentucky — Senate Bill 178 and House Bill 530 — could reduce the state’s environmental review scope and speed up the permitting process for industrial manufacturers, like steelmakers. Mesabi Metallics was not listed as lobbying for these efforts as of Feb. 24, but the bills are notable considering Minnesota’s more stringent regulatory process.
Mesabi Metallics’ LinkedIn page currently lists five positions based in Paducah, Kentucky, including manager of public relations, government relations, human resources and a head of permitting.
The positions describe, in part, leading the company’s engagement efforts for “an integrated steel manufacturing facility with Direct Reduced Iron (DRI).”
Kentucky-based positions were not listed on the company’s careers page, but were accessible through Essar’s general application page.
The Mesabi Metallics project in Nashwauk has endured several dramatic changes in its outlook since ground was first broken in 2008.
It filed bankruptcy in 2016 under Essar Steel Minnesota and revived by Mesabi Metallics in the aftermath. Essar officially assumed ownership of the project again in 2019, even as it background managed parts of the company through bankruptcy.
After a number of missed deadlines and viability questions, the state of Minnesota revoked public land leases in 2023 and awarded them to rival Cleveland-Cliffs.
Mesabi Metallics has since made steadier progress toward operating Minnesota’s first new mine and pellet plant in 50 years at the former Butler Taconite site. It has hosted numerous open houses to the public and invested in electric drills and autonomous 400-ton trucks.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, in August, visited the project site.
At last update, the company said it expected to begin operations in the first quarter of 2026, but it is unclear how close Mesabi Metallics is to meeting that mark. It is currently working with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to renew expired air and water quality permits. A comment period for the renewals ended Feb. 2.
The project is expected to produce 7 million tons of DRI pellets annually and employ hundreds on the Iron Range.
This story was updated at 2:10 p.m. Feb. 24 to fix an auto correction on the spelling of Babbage.
