Cliffs’ United Taconite production plant in Forbes, south of Eveleth (formerly Eveleth Taconite).
Today, Cliffs Natural Resources announced the indefinite idling of United Taconite on the Mesabi Iron Range, including the mine in Eveleth and the production plant in Forbes. The move affects about 500 employees.
United Taconite is the mine that needs Highway 53 to move to access its next body of iron ore. A source tells me that this idling may delay work on that project, though official word hasn’t come yet.
We also don’t know the length of the idling yet, though it would appear that this shutdown is similar to the ones at U.S. Steel’s Minntac and Keewatin Taconite. Minntac just announced it would resume full production in September after expending its stockpiles of taconite pellets.
Cliffs runs three mines on the Iron Range, including United Taconite, Hibbing Taconite and Northshore Mining in Babbitt and Silver Bay. Unlike U.S. Steel, Cliffs sells pellets on the open market as a commodities company. The global collapse of iron ore prices has cause Cliffs stock to lose a tremendous amount of value this year.
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