According to a recent press releases, Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton has pledged the state's continued support of Chippewa Capital Partners' effort to revive the former Essar Steel Minnesota project and finish construction on the taconite mine and processing plant in Nashwauk.
The support from Minnesota’s Department of Natural Resources will allow the project to continue; state mineral leases cover about 30 percent of the taconite iron ore under the project. Chippewa initially faced an August 31 deadline to have financing in place, as it tries to raise more $1.6 billion to finish the project that will include the mine, pellet plant and a direct reduced iron/hot briquetted iron plant that would make use of the taconite pellets; $1.9 billion has already been spent by Essar Steel Minnesota/Mesabi Metallics. That final deadline was extended to September 30. Had the Department not agreed to the extension, or had it withdrawn state support by the deadline, the entire bankruptcy agreement could have become undone.
Under terms of the bankruptcy agreement, Chippewa must start shipping taconite pellets by December 2020 and complete construction of the DRI/HBI facility by December 2021. The state can rescind its leases if any of those marks aren't met.
Dayton's letter also acknowledged the interest expressed by Cleveland-Cliffs in acquiring the Essar site, but noted that a change would be too lengthy since it would have to revert to the full bankruptcy court process. Chippewa filed suit in federal court in September, accusing Cliffs of sabotaging its plans for the Nashwauk site.