Posted on 09/28/2026 2:18:41 PM PDT by Miami Rebel
President Donald Trump is unveiling Monday plans for a massive steel plant in Iowa that the White House says will be the largest in American history and promises to bring 1,750 permanent jobs to the state.
The roughly $15 billion steel plant is touted as a major new investment and evidence that Trump's economic agenda is bringing heavy manufacturing back to the U.S. with just over a month until the midterms. It will create between 5,000 and 6,000 construction jobs during its first phase.
Trump is expected to make the announcement from the Oval Office at 2 p.m. alongside executives from Mesabi Metallics, a White House official told Fox News Digital. The company plans to build the facility using iron ore from its newly constructed mine in Minnesota.
The Iowa plant is expected to produce 7.5 million tons of steel annually in its first phase before eventually reaching 10 million tons per year, according to the White House. The administration says that would make it the largest steel plant ever built in the U.S.
If completed as planned, the project would represent a significant expansion of American steel-making capacity. At its planned 10 million tons of annual production, the Iowa plant alone would have output equivalent to roughly one-tenth of what the entire U.S. steel industry produced last year.
The project would also create a fully domestic supply chain, according to the White House, using iron ore mined at Mesabi's Minnesota operation to produce finished steel in Iowa.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Dear FRiends,
We need your continuing support to keep FR funded. Your donations are our sole source of funding. No sugar daddies, no advertisers, no paid memberships, no commercial sales, no gimmicks, no tax subsidies. No spam, no pop-ups, no ad trackers.
If you enjoy using FR and agree it's a worthwhile endeavor, please consider making a contribution today:
Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you,
Jim
“Also what about the other raw materials to make steel? How are they going to get to Iowa.”
correct ... massive amounts of coal are also needed both as an ingredient as well as for fuel, as well as massive amounts of limestone as an ingredient ...
OTOH, perhaps the new plant will use modern technology, such as Direct Conversion Iron Ore Smelting, which is an industrial method that turns iron ore directly into liquid iron (called hot metal) without using traditional coke ovens or large blast furnaces, thus using less resources and energy than traditional blast furnaces ... DCIOS also produces much less emissions and works well with lower grades of ore ....
actually, i just looked it up, and indeed the new iowa steel plant will utilize hot Direct-Reduced Iron (DRI) paired with Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) technology, i.e., no blast furnaces, no coke, no coking ovens, etc. ...
very nice to see a ginormous new steel plant in the USA that utilizes the latest technology!
Thank you for the updated information.
I am an old guy and sailed on Great Lakes bulk carries in the 1970s. We carried iron ore pellets, coal, stone, and limestone to steel plants. One of my favorite run was on an old ship the Hennepin which carried coal from Toledo to the National Steel Plant on Zug Island (Detroit). We made a round trip every 24 hours. We unloaded our cargo in a large hopper-hence the name of the voyages-the Hopper Run!
Thank you for the updated information.
I am an old guy and sailed on Great Lakes bulk carries in the 1970s. We carried iron ore pellets, coal, stone, and limestone to steel plants. One of my favorite run was on an old ship the Hennepin which carried coal from Toledo to the National Steel Plant on Zug Island (Detroit). We made a round trip every 24 hours. We unloaded our cargo in a large hopper-hence the name of the voyages-the Hopper Run!
I watched the presser and he must have said 18b half a dozen times. Why Sindo’s decide to say 15?
Already started construction as confirmed by the governor in the presser
I thought about that a little bit and concluded that ore carriers were not likely to be stowed on the deck of something larger and hence shouldn’t be referred to as a “boat”.
Rumor has it that the new steel plant is going in at Wever, Iowa. Wever is adjacent to the Mississippi River. I wonder if they will load the raw materials on barges to move south to Wever? I am originally from Burlington, Iowa which is on the Mississippi just north of Wever. A lot of barge traffic moving through that area. I’m not familiar with the Minnesota mine location so I’m not sure if that’s feasible to get the raw materials to a barge loading facility on the Mississippi River. Lots of trains in that area too. The “Burlington” in Burlington Northern Railroad is Burlington Iowa.
If it's smelting new steel, it will be using coke. Most US metallurgical coal comes from WV, with most of it being exported. Low sulfur, low ash bituminous coal may also be used, which we have a lot of in Wyoming.
Should have read through: it’s using direct conversion: no coal.
Also being an Iowa native I read through the article twice to try to figure out where it was to be located.
I guess the old Who What Where Why and How no longer are taught in J-Schools. Yeah, you get “Iowa.” It’s 300 miles wide and 175 miles north to south. A bit of detail should be included.
Like saying “A murder took place in Pennsylvania” and not saying whether Pittsburgh, Philly, Allentown, Harrisburg or any specific location.
“ Also being an Iowa native I read through the article twice to try to figure out where it was to be located.”
SE Iowa. They are buying land now, stories were coming out last week about purchase offers for land
I am in complete agreement with your observation. However, on the Great Lakes, 1000 foot ships that can carry 50,000 tons of coal or iron ore are called boats-it is a long tradition going back many many years. Even the officers and unlicensed mariners call them ore boats or “lakers” in contrast to ocean going ships, aka “Salties” that load or discharge cargo at Great Lakes ports.
The big ore boats are too big to pass through the Welland canal and also were never built to sail on the oceans.
The mines are in Nashwauk, MN which is far inland. The ore is going to start out on a train, anyway.
As a kid, my parents used to take us to visit the two parallel sets of triple, directly connected locks on the Welland Canal to watch the action.
I think we used to call the locals Lake Freighters.
“The company is owned by the Indian conglomerate Essar Group, chaired by Rewant Ruia. The current president and CEO is Joe Broking.”
Global: No more United States.
I was on an iron ore boat that went through the Welland Canal. We went to a port in Ontario and loaded petroleum coke. And yes I have also used the term lake freighter.
Good point!
As any submariner will tell you, USS Louisiana SSBN 743, at almost 19,000 long tons submerged, is a boat ...
You may not like it, but the Great Lakes bulk carriers are called “boats” by the mariners who sail them.
I wouldn’t argue ...
“The Legend Lives on, from the Chippewa on Down” 🎶🎶
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.