Range mining: another perspective

Mining. The Range. Sounds familiar, right? A friend sent me some links about mining on the western range that put a new perspective on some of the mining stories we report so often here on Minnesota’s Iron Range. These are stories from the High Country News about some of the tough economic choices that need to be made by Western towns that had moved on from their old mining economies. The tone is dramatically different from what you see on Minnesota’s Iron Range, where the mainstream opinion is to support as much new mining as possible.

Ruluctant Boomtown (a city in Arizona decides whether it wants to go back to mining after a decade without it)

A Rico Renaissance (a small town finds its tourism economy threatened by the return of mining companies)

Death of a Mine (a modern copper mine in Utah goes belly up after just two years; a warning for our current projects on the East Range?)

I am left with the thought that we Minnesota Rangers need to put a lot more irons in the fire than just mineral mining. These companies reliably follow the price of whatever mineral they mine. If the price goes down, so does the mine. It’s good to have options.

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