A steel mill rising out of the desert near Mojave is being built as California's first new steel mill in more than 50 years, and Kern County officials are betting it will reshape the local job market for years to come. San Diego-based Pacific Steel Group broke ground on the project in spring 2025, and the company now expects to begin commercial operations in late August 2027.
The Mojave Micro Mill sits on 174 acres at the southeast corner of Sierra Highway and Sopp Road, according to SFGATE. The site will include a 500,000-square-foot main building along with several outbuildings, plus a 63-acre solar component built to supply renewable energy to the facility. As reported by the New York Post, the mill is expected to be the only California steel plant that both melts and rolls steel products, a distinction company official Mark Olson described to SFGATE, saying the facility will demonstrate that large-scale industry can thrive in California using renewable energy.
Jobs, Costs, and Conflicting Numbers
How many jobs the mill will ultimately create depends on which source is doing the counting. SFGATE reports the mill is expected to create about 700 new jobs, including welders, electricians, millwrights and computer systems engineers, while the same outlet notes company officials said the project's cost has grown from $540 million to about $700 million. Bakersfield.com, citing county records, put the project's investment at approximately $800 million and said the mill is expected to employ about 450 people. Pacific Steel Group's own website separately states the facility will create nearly 1,000 jobs in Kern County, an estimate not matched by the other figures.
The New York Post's reporting adds that Pacific Steel Group committed to invest more than $540 million and to create nearly 450 jobs during the facility's first five years, while the mill is also expected to employ automation and robotics specialists alongside the trades positions already cited. The discrepancies among the job and cost figures have not been resolved by any single authoritative source in the available reporting.
Tax Incentives Tied to Local Hiring
Kern County's Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a property tax refund agreement last month, tying the incentive to local hiring. Per the New York Post's reporting on the arrangement, the deal offers approximately $7,500 for every qualifying new job and could provide more than $3 million in incentives over six years. The Gavin Newsom administration separately awarded Pacific Steel Group a $30 million California Competes Tax Credit, according to the same report.
Local officials have framed the project as a turning point for the region's economy. Chris Parlier praised the mill investment as transformative for the local economy and workforce, per the New York Post, while Governor Gavin Newsom said in March 2025 that the project can grow regional economies while addressing climate and public health.
Green Steel and Workforce Training
The mill is expected to produce seismic-grade green rebar, according to Pacific Steel Group, as reported by Bakersfield.com. The facility will also feature a carbon-capture system and advanced high-efficiency filtration to reduce emissions, according to Plant Services. That outlet notes the mill is expected to produce materials critical for public infrastructure, including steel for roads, bridges and hospitals.
To fill the specialized roles the mill will require, Pacific Steel is collaborating with California State University, Bakersfield, and Antelope Valley Community College to establish pathways to employment, Plant Services reports. The company is also partnering with local colleges more broadly to develop steel-manufacturing training programs, according to the New York Post's account of the project.
Company leadership has described the milestone in personal terms. Eric Benson called the groundbreaking a milestone nearly five years in the making and expressed pride in the assembled team and its achievement, according to the New York Post. With construction underway and commercial operations targeted for late August 2027, the project now stands as a test of whether a new generation of steelmaking can take root in California after a five-decade gap.
