ST. PAUL - An economic development agency approved a $5 million loan
Thursday for the planned revival of a taconite plant site on the Iron
Range.
The loan from the Minnesota Iron Range Resources board will go to
Minnesota Steel Industries, which hopes to revive the defunct Butler
Taconite site as a fully integrated steel mill. Gov. Tim Pawlenty
must approve the loan.
“There is a lot of enthusiasm and support for this project,” Iron
Range Resources commissioner Sandy Layman said. “It’s long been our
goal to produce steel next to the Butler ore body because it produces
a higher-priced product (than taconite).”
The money will help MSI finish environmental impact studies and ore
tests.
MSI envisions the plant operating by 2008 and employing 700 people.
The mine and mill would turn freshly dug iron ore into flat-rolled
metal in 36 hours, instead of the weeks or months it now takes for
taconite to find its way to a mill in another state and be used to
make steel.
“I strongly support this,” said state Rep. Loren Solberg, DFL-Grand
Rapids, an IRR board member who represented the Butler region before
redistricting. “It is an opportunity for us to not only open up a new
mine on the western end of the Iron Range, but it also makes active
the Butler taconite site, (which is) the largest ore reserve we have.”
MSI chief executive Steve Hicks said the entire project needs $1.3
billion to $1.6 billion and that the company intends to soon begin
seeking money in the capital markets.
