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Iron Range mines could see boost from Brazilian disaster
An awful mine disaster in South America is now cited as spurring a recent turnaround for Cliffs Natural Resources and possibly other mining companies with interests on Minnesota’s Iron Range. On Nov. 5, a tailings dam burst at the Samarco Mine in Brazil, flooding nearby villages. Six people — including miners and local residents — were killed with another 22 missing,…
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PolyMet EIS done, but project still faces hurdles
Last week the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources released the final Environmental Impact Statement for PolyMet, an important step in the company’s goal to open a new copper-nickel mine near Hoyt Lakes on the eastern Mesabi Iron Range. A milestone, yes, but certainly not the end of the story. Marshall Helmberger’s Timberjay offers a pretty good explanation…
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Essar Steel Algoma files for protection from creditors
Essar Steel Algoma — sister company to Essar Steel Minnesota in Nashwauk — announced it would file for bankruptcy creditor protection in Canada and the United States today. The steel mill is located in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, and is part of Essar’s plans to use pellets made at the taconite plant under construction now on the…
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PolyMet EIS to be released today
Today at 12:30 p.m., the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources will release its final 3,000-page Environmental Impact Statement for the controversial PolyMet copper nickel mine in Hoyt Lakes on the eastern Mesabi Iron Range. I expect the document will be posted here, at the project site on the DNR website. Dropping a document of this…
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Chisholm sets forum to talk about Hwy 5 reroute options
The city of Chisholm has called a Nov. 16 forum with people from neighboring towns and townships to discuss the rerouting of St. Louis County Highway 5 for mining expansion at Hibbing Taconite. In a post that inspired robust conversation in the comments section, we talked about the fact that Chisholm was questioning the county/mine…
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UPDATE: The growing pains of today’s Grand Rapids school vote
UPDATE (11 p.m.): The District 318 school referendum failed by more than 2,000 votes. Every precinct voted no. It was a crushing defeat that will send the school district back to the drawing board for its future plans. Here are the totals. My analysis is that the project was not fully formed enough to convince voters…
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Another highway debate shows power tilting toward mines
By now, most of you are pretty familiar with the massive Highway 53 project between Virginia and Eveleth on Northern Minnesota’s Mesabi Iron Range. That $240 million re-route of the Iron Range’s most important north-south highway will build two new bridges, included the state’s tallest, to accommodate a 1960s-era agreement with the mines to move the highway…
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Creative space the next frontier for libraries?
This is a follow-up on my Oct. 11 column “Thinkers, tinkers, and 3-D printers,” which explores 3-D printing and efforts to support local innovation and ideas in Iron Range economic development. After that piece went to print, I learned more about how maker spaces are becoming the vogue. For one thing, I was not aware that Duluth,…
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Cliffs CEO threatens to close mine
UPDATE: Cliffs Natural Resources spent most of Monday trying to walk back Goncalves’s comments about closing an Iron Range mine. ### Lourenco Goncalves, CEO of Cliffs Natural Resources, is threatening to close one of Cliffs’ Iron Range mines in the event Essar Steel opens its new mine near Nashwauk. This is Bill Hanna’s front page story of today’s…
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Veda Ponikvar: America’s Iron Lady
Veda Ponikvar, founder and publisher of two Chisholm newspapers, esteemed American civilian military leader, and arguably the most powerful person in Iron Range politics of the latter 20th Century, died Tuesday in Chisholm at the age of 96. One could remark that Ponikvar was the most consequential women in the male-dominated industrial history of the Iron Range.…
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Gov. Dayton, officials meet with Essar to negotiate repayment
On Monday, Gov. Mark Dayton and Iron Range lawmakers, along with officials from the state Department of Employment and Economic Development, met with representatives of Essar Minnesota. Essar is building a new taconite mine on the western Mesabi Iron Range, but scuttled initial plans to build a value-added steel mill on the site, all while…
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Looking down on the Laurentian Divide
As we see the autumn leaves of the Iron Range reach peak colors, already beginning to fall in my corner of Itasca County, enjoy this recent video by Above the Range, a YouTube channel dedicated to aerial footage of Northern Minnesota scenery. See it here: The Laurentian Divide is the geographical “rock” (no pun intended) of…
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Seeing indigenous history on the Iron Range
For many reasons, the stories of native Northern Minnesota and the Northern Minnesota that formed after European and American settlement are often considered entirely separate matters in most history classes and casual conversation. The latter, written by the ancestors of most people who live here, tends to get much more attention. If kids learn about the prior, it’s usually…
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‘End is Near’ for Iron Range mine view
With peak fall colors upon us, this weekend offers a historic opportunity for travelers to Northern Minnesota’s Mesabi Iron Range. “Mineview in the Sky” is a scenic overlook situated upon a mine dump between Eveleth and Virginia. Due to proposed new mining by Cliffs’ United Taconite plant which is forcing the relocation of Highway 53, “Mineview in the Sky” will…
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LIVE BLOG: MN House 3A DFL Primary
Today, four candidates — Rob Ecklund, Bill Hansen, Eric Johnson and Heidi Omerza — sought for the DFL nomination in the House 3A special election DFL primary. The winner will face Republican Roger Skraba and independent Kelsey Johnson in the Dec. 8 general election. I will provide news and analysis on the race throughout the evening in…