Click above to watch Sault MP Bryan Hayes, Ontario Northern Development and Mines Minister Michael Gravelle and Sault MPP David Orazietti announce a 60 million dollar investment in Essar Steel Algoma on Friday.

A major funding announcement for Essar Steel Algoma on Friday. A total of 60 million dollars in federal and provincial money will go to the steel plant — and will allow it to adopt technologies to improve steel production and enhance the quality of the of the steel sheet and steel plate products that are made there. Sault MPP David Orazietti was of the many dignataries on hand for Friday’s announcement at the plant. He talks about what exactly will result from that money — part of a 240 million dollar project undertaken by Essar…

Two hundred new jobs will also be created in relation to the project, that has a target date for completion of 2022. 30 million of that will come from the federal government’s Advanced Manufacturing Fund. Another 30 million dollars will be delivered through the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund. Essar CEO Kalyan Ghosh confirms 200 new jobs will result from this project…while sustaining the 25 hundred existing jobs at the plant…

Ghosh says the product improvements will come in the form of more low-sulphur steel. This is primarily used in ship building and road construction. Other work will involve high-carbon steel, which is used in the auto industry. Orazietti expressed confidence the current economic climate will not effect the announced investment…

It was announced that Essar’s 240 million dollar modernization project was a year in the making. Ghosh expressed sentiments similar to Orazietti’s — saying the investment will make Essar more sustainable for the future, after a number of quarters in the red.