The $1.6 billion Essar Steel project in Nashwaulk, Minnesota has received a $1.4 million federal grant necessary to move the project forward.
US Rep. Jim Oberstar and US Sen. Amy Klobuchar announced the grant from the Economic Development Administration on Thursday. The money will bring water and sewer service to the site of the state-of-the-art iron ore and steelmaking project, which is currently under construction. Steel production at the site is slated to begin in late 2011.
"This is the most important development for Minnesota's mining industry since the invention of taconite in the 1950s; we are taking the ore from the ground and producing a high-value product on site," Oberstar said in a news release.