Peter McDermott, executive director of the Itasca Development Corp., says job- creating projects like Minnesota Steel's are eagerly anticipated in the region.
   "It's an opportunity to open up a mine that's been closed for 20 years," he says. "We're an economically distressed county with unemployment and poverty higher than the state average."
   Itasca County is also home to the small town of Taconite, where Excelsior Energy plans to build Mesaba Energy, a $3- billion, two- phase coal gasification plant. Also awaiting regulatory approval, the Mesaba One phase will employ more than 100 when operational in 2011. Construction is currently scheduled to begin in 2007. The plant would be the nation's first large- scale coal gasification facility.
   In Grand Rapids, a plan to expand the UPM Blandin paper mill is advancing through the state's permitting process. This project is somewhat less certain than the other two, as the company's Finland- based parent UPM Kymmene has said it will wait until the permitting process is complete to decide whether to proceed with the nearly $800- million expansion.
   Northern Minnesota will also be home to the state's first commercial base and precious metals mine, PolyMet Mining Corp.'s NorthMet Project near Hoyt Lakes in St. Louis County. The $250- million project, which will produce copper, nickel, silver and platinum, includes an open- pit mine and a processing facility at a former taconite plant.