Essar Global in India is back in the financial picture at the controversial $2 billion iron ore mine and processing project in Nashwauk after paying off mountains of debt.
The turn of events on Monday that brought the troubled Essar Global back into the picture caught Minnesota state and Iron Range officials by surprise.
Essar said in a statement on Tuesday that it had paid off Mesabi Metallic's $260 million in debt. That deal was just one of several complicated debt transactions around the world that were collectively worth about $1.7 billion, officials said. The debt repayments were financed in part with proceeds from the sale of a large coal business.
Essar Global was the parent company of Essar Steel Minnesota, which filed for bankruptcy in 2016 after a decade of delays and problems with financing the Nashwauk project. In 2016, the state took the unusual step of asking Essar Steel to pay back its economic-development loans because the company and its parent firm missed so many project milestones and owed thousands of dollars to local contractors.
At the time, angry state officials said they looked forward to dealing with new owners of the project, owners who would honor their commitments.
Fast forward two years, however, and Essar Global is back.
Essar Global officials said in a statement that the group had "purchased [the] $260 million face value notes issued by Mesabi Metallics Inc. These notes substantially constitute all of the debt of Mesabi, and paves the way for Essar Global to once again participate in the low-cost iron ore mining and pellet manufacturing project that is under construction in Minnesota, USA."
State officials said they are waiting for more information and had more questions than answers.