Mesabi Nugget president appeals to IRR Board

Mesabi Nugget president appeals to IRR Board

Many are anxious to know where the new home of Mesabi Nugget will be, and while Nugget president Larry Lehtinen holds the environmental permits for the project, he does not hold the answer to the question on everyone's mind. At the Iron Range Resources (IRR) Board Thursday night, Mr. Lehtinen revealed that he has acquired the environmental permits in both Minnesota and Indiana for the $175 million taconite nugget operation that will be Mesabi Nugget. Mr. Lehtinen acquired the permits through Auburn Nugget LLC, a subsidiary of Ferrometrics Inc, of which he is the founder. Mr. Lehtinen was at the meeting to ask the board to restructure the $18 million in loans from the agency to ensure project partners Cleveland Cliffs, Kobe Steel and Steel Dynamics will choose this November to build the facility in Minnesota rather than Indiana. The state of Minnesota has already provided $36 million to the project - $18 million each from both the IRR and the state general fund – so needless to say, backers would not be happy if Mesabi Nugget was built in Indiana instead. Mr. Lehtinen could not promise the board that Mesabi Nugget would definitely be built in Minnesota, but he said that if the financial restructuring of IRR's loans was approved, the Minnesota package would be more appealing to the project partners than Indiana. The Steel Dynamics Board will meet to vote on the future location of Mesabi Nugget on November 17.