India’s Essar Steel put its Minnesota iron-ore mine and processing plant into chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Friday after the state revoked its mining leases, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources on Friday moved to cancel Essar Steel Minnesota LLC’s leases to mine taconite iron ore after it missed a July 1 deadline to complete construction of the $1.9 billion plant, which broke ground in 2008. Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton said that he instructed the department to terminate the leases after months of calling on the steelmaker, part of India’s infrastructure and energy conglomerate Essar Group, to repay its contractors in full and to show that it had the ability to complete construction. According to the state department’s letter, the lease termination would take effect in 20 days. The state also intends to seek rent that Essar Steel Minnesota owes on the mining leases, according to the letter.
