Fort Wayne, Indiana-based Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI) announced Monday that it has purchased an iron ore mine on the Mesabi Iron Range in Minnesota with plans to operate it.
SDI said it purchased 6,000 acres of land at Hoyt Lakes, Minnesota, the site of a taconite mine, from Cleveland Cliffs Inc. SDI plans to reopen the mine and create a new facility for the concentrating of iron ore. Operations are slated to begin in late 2009 or in early 2010, the company said.
The total cost of the venture is estimated at $165 million, with SDI holding approximately $65 million in equity as the sole owner of the company, which will be called Mesabi Mining.
SDI also announced this week that it has formed a new corporation with Japan's Kobe Steel called Mesabi Nugget Delaware, which will build and operate an iron nugget manufacturing plant on the Hoyt Lakes site. Construction of the plant is currently underway, with iron nugget production expected to start in mid-2009.
Iron nuggets produced at Mesabi Nugget would feed Steel Dynamics' mill in Butler, Indiana. The 97-percent-pure iron ore nuggets could also feed foundries.