Essar Steel's US arm signs 10 year pact with ArcelorMittal

Essar will supply standard & fluxed iron ore pellets to ArcelorMittal's North American operations

 

Essar Steel Minnesota LLC (ESML), the US subsidiary of Essar Steel, has inked a 10-year agreement with ArcelorMittal USA for supply of 3.5 million tonnes (MT) annually of iron ore pellets.

Essar will supply standard and fluxed iron ore pellets to ArcelorMittal's North American operations and the supplies are expected to begin during the second half of 2013-14, according to the agreement.

However, the financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.

"This off-take agreement demonstrates the marketability of ESML's high quality products to third parties in addition to Essar Steel Algoma, Canada," ESML President and Chief Executive Officer Madhu Vuppuluri said.

ESML's diverse product portfolio includes standard, flux and DR grade iron ore pellets and the company will be the only producer capable of producing all three types of pellets in Unites States.     

ArcelorMittal, USA's Executive Vice President for Finance, Planning and Procurement John Brett said: "This off-take agreement is consistent with our strategy of securing long term supply of critical raw materials within the region, and it provides material that meets the stringent standards of our blast furnaces".     

Essar Steel Minnesota LLC has about 2 billion tonnes of measured, indicated and inferred magnetite resources located in the western end of the Mesabi Iron Range in Minnesota. Of this, about 1.7 billion tonnes are proven and probable reserves. The company also has about 290 MT of hematite resources. It is presently constructing a 7 MT per annum iron ore pellet plant at Nashwauk in Northern Minnesota, at an investment of $1.7 billion.