Essar Steel Minnesota, owned by Essar Global in Mumbai, stands to lose its lucrative Minnesota mineral leases on the Iron Range after missing a July 1 deadline to repay the state $66 million in infrastructure costs related to the company’s now stalled $1.8 billion taconite project in Nashwauk.
Essar has requested an extension and the Governor of Minnesota is closely engaged in negotiations.
Without the mineral leases, Essar could be forced into bankruptcy.