Updated at 4:20 p.m. with statement from Pueblo Mayor Nick Gradisar.

The operator of the Pueblo steel mill, among the city’s top employers, announced Wednesday it is selling its North American operations.

In its announcement, Evraz, which employs about 1,400 people in the United States, said it is “launching the process of soliciting proposals for the acquisition of its North American subsidiaries.”

”The sale will allow to unlock the stand-alone value of the North America business…EVRAZ does not intend to provide any additional information on this process unless or until the process is finalised.”

The company’s shares, according to a Tuesday report by Bloomberg, plummeted 87% in value this year, and its largest individual shareholder, Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, has been unable to unload his shares, which make up his largest asset. He holds 28.64% of the company’s stock.

The Pueblo steel mill dates back to 1881, when it was known as Colorado Fuel & Iron. The mill makes railroad rails, pipes and other products, and is the largest Colorado customer for Xcel Energy.

Evraz purchased the Pueblo steel mill in 2006 from Oregon Steel Mills.

The mill began a $500 million long rail mill project in 2021, to be powered by solar energy. The project would allow for a near doubling of the existing workforce of 1,100.  The mill is also expected to benefit from the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill signed into law last November by President Biden

Eric Ludwig, president of United Steelworkers Local 2102, one of two unions at the mill, told Colorado Politics he had no comment about the potential sale.

Pueblo Mayor Nick Gradisar, in a statement to Colorado Politics, said, “the news of Evraz North America selling its North American operations to include Pueblo comes as a bit of a surprise, but with the ongoing war in Ukraine and the potential ties to Russia it is understandable. The steel mill here in Pueblo has been owned by several owners throughout its existence, but whoever owns it in the future will have a huge asset as a premiere steel mill in North America. We know the investments with the long rail plans for the future and the best steel workers in North America here in Pueblo, make this an attractive investment for a company looking to make this acquisition.”

The company has been operating normally during the Russian war with Ukraine, despite Abramovich’s inclusion on sanctions lists in the United States and elsewhere. 

Abramovich was added to sanctions lists for the UK, EU, Canadian and Australia following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. That caused stock trading in Evraz to be suspended in the United Kingdom in March. The company is one of Russia’s biggest taxpayers, though it disputes being Russian-based.

Abramovich has been on U.S. sanctions lists since about 2018; he was among 96 Russian oligarchs placed on the U.S. Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, signed into law by President Trump in 2017.