Mesabi Metallics: Company finishes paying overdue taxes to Itasca County

NASHWAUK, MN -- An embattled mining company says they’ve now paid the $1 million in overdue property taxes they owed Itasca County.

Mesabi Metallics representatives added Wednesday they also paid the penalties and October’s property taxes in advance.

“We thank Itasca County and the City of Nashwauk for their support of our mining and pelletization project in Nashwauk and look forward to continuing to work collaboratively with all local and state government agencies to bring this project to completion,” says Larry Sutherland, President and COO of Mesabi Metallics.

Nashwauk’s mayor put pressure on the company to pay during a press conference earlier this year.

Since then, the company paid in increments.

Mesabi Metallics is building a mining and pelletization project on the former Essar site in Nashwauk, but that came to a halt a year ago when the Minnesota DNR terminated the company’s state mineral leases due to certain requirements not being met and money owed to the state.

In a statement distributed by Mesabi Metallics, Nashwauk’s mayor says he’s hopeful this is the first step toward the company getting the leases back.

“We are extremely satisfied that Mesabi Metallics has paid all their tax obligations,” Nashwauk Mayor Calvin Saari said. “We are optimistic that the company will soon be able to attain an amicable agreement with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources over mineral leases and bring the project to completion so that well-paying construction and operations jobs can return to our region.”

Mesabi Metallics is building a 7-million tons per annum taconite mining and pelletization project in Nashwauk.

Company leaders say the construction is expected to create about 1,000 jobs. No word on how many permanent jobs it would bring.

They say construction is about halfway done.

They expect the mine to be completed within three years.

When asked if Mesabi Metallics has finished paying back the state, company representatives said “Mesabi Metallics is current on all tax obligations.”