The facility will be owned by India's Essar Group and is supported by up to $10 billion in financing from the Export-Import Bank. It will draw raw materials from a $2.5 billion iron ore mine in Minnesota, described as the first new mine in the U.S. in 50 years. While Iowa Republicans have hailed the investment as a gamechanger ahead of midterms, report from Al Jazeera highlight Essar's ties to Russia, and critics have noted the group's previous bankruptcy and failed job promises in Minnesota.
