California plans to create 700 jobs at its first steel mill in over 50 years

While tech and artificial intelligence may grab headlines and dominate the jobs discourse in the coastal metros, a 21st century industrial surge is taking place in the heart of California with the construction of one of the nation’s biggest new steel mills. 

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While California’s new steel mill hasn’t received the same attention from the Trump administration as the anticipated construction of the Mesabi Metallics steel complex recently announced in Iowa, the scope and scale of this California mill — along with the massive effort to power it with renewable energy — feel equally impressive.

Once it opens next year, the giant facility in Kern County, known as the Mojave Micro Mill, will be the first steel mill built in California in more than 50 years.

San Diego-based Pacific Steel Group broke ground on the mill in spring 2025.

Gov. Gavin Newsom lauded the endeavor. “This project will bring steel manufacturing back to the Golden State and localize the supply chain – supporting a transition to clean, in-state manufacturing of materials essential for public infrastructure like roads, bridges and hospitals,” Newsom’s office said in a statement.

Pacific Steel officials confirmed to SFGATE this week that the project is running on time, though the cost has ballooned from $540 million to about $700 million.

Mark Olson, Pacific Steel’s vice president of mill operations, wrote SFGATE via email this week that those costs will deliver “the only steel plant in California that both melts and rolls steel products.”

The project will feature a 500,000-square-foot main building, along with several outbuildings. In addition to the mill, a 63-acre solar component is also being built to provide renewable energy to run the facility, officials said. 

“Our state-of-the-art facility will demonstrate that large-scale industrial manufacturing can thrive in California while leveraging the state’s commitment to renewable energy and a more sustainable industrial future,” Olson said. 

The steel mill is located on 174 acres at the southeast corner of Sierra Highway and Sopp Road, about 70 miles southeast of downtown Bakersfield. 

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In late September, the Kern County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a property tax refund incentive to employ people from within the county. The mill is expected to create about 700 new jobs, including welders, electricians, millwrights and computer systems engineers. 

The agreement would pay back about $7,500 for every new job created at the mill, with the help of AdvanceKern, an economic development initiative program that started in 2017 and focuses on “sustained, full-time job creation, in addition to capital investment, at better-than-living wage rate for Kern County.”

SFGATE reached out to Kern County Supervisor Chris Parlier, who represents the district where the mill is being built, but did not hear back from him by time of publication. However, Parlier recently told the Bakersfield Californian that the program “advances the county’s goal of becoming the best place in California to start or grow a business.”

“The company appreciates the partnership with Kern County and is excited about offering family-sustaining jobs to Kern County residents to the maximum extent possible,” Pacific Steel’s Olson said. 

The agreement, unanimously approved by the Board of Supervisors, could provide more than $3 million in incentives to Pacific Steel over the next six years. 

The company “expects to begin commercial operations [at the mill] in late August 2027,” Olson said.