India-based Essar Steel’s plan to build an iron-ore crusher and pellet mill on Minnesota’s Iron Range has become an epic construction struggle, with non-payment to contractors, past-due loans and another total work stoppage, says Barry Davies, business representative, International Association of Ironworkers Local 612, Minneapolis. “Construction has stopped,” he says. “It’s about 60% to 70% complete, but we’ve been told that Essar is waiting for the bank to release some funds. … It’s been a big financial difficulty for our contractors.”
Essar started construction in 2008 on the $1.8-billion project, and several times contractors have been unpaid and the site idle. In late 2014, however, the company reported closing nearly $800 million in a mix of private equity and debt deals, needed to complete the project and make contractors “whole.”