Category: Iron Range

  • Status quo wins out at RAMS

    Status quo wins out at RAMS

    The Range Association of Municipalities and Schools (RAMS), source of much controversy earlier this year, held their mail-in election for chairperson of the board. The Mesabi Daily News reports that Silver Bay City Councilor Carlene Perfetto won the election 22-18, defeating Virginia City Councilor Charlie Baribeau, who had called for sweeping reforms of the organization’s…

  • Questions linger over Highway 53 plan

    Questions linger over Highway 53 plan

    Plans to relocate one of the Iron Range’s busiest highways to accommodate a mining company continue to progress, though the Virginia City Council opted to hold off its support, for now, after a recent public forum. The Mesabi Daily News reports that Virginia councilors remain concerned about how the new route of the highway will…

  • Lake by lake: complex plan to protect wild rice, industry

    Lake by lake: complex plan to protect wild rice, industry

    This has been a huge week of developments for those closely watching the debate about the intersection of industry and the environment as related to wild rice in Northern Minnesota. Yesterday, March 25, Gov. Mark Dayton said in an interview that the Minnesota wild rice sulfate standard of 10 parts per million was “outdated,” arguably too strict…

  • Governor: strict water regulations ‘outdated’

    Governor: strict water regulations ‘outdated’

    In an interview with Minnesota Public Radio’s Tom Scheck, Gov. Mark Dayton said that the state’s controversial wild rice sulfate standard might be needlessly strict and could threaten Northern Minnesota’s iron mining industry. The comments come after a number of bills from House Republicans and the mostly DFL Iron Range legislative delegation seek to strip…

  • Range town addition fades to mining

    Range town addition fades to mining

    Parkville, Minnesota, is a place, but not a town. It’s one of the location villages common to the Iron Range, a place where miners and their families lived a literal stone’s throw from mining activity. Legally speaking, Parkville is an addition of Mountain Iron, the Mesabi Range’s first town. But U.S. Steel has been gradually buying…

  • MNSCU Board selects Maki to lead Iron Range colleges

    MNSCU Board selects Maki to lead Iron Range colleges

    Today, Chancellor Stephen Rosenstone recommended Bemidji State University CFO William Maki to lead the five independent Iron Range-region colleges of the Northeast Higher Education District. The MNSCU Board of Trustees voted unanimously to appoint Maki as President of NHED at its afternoon meeting. The Northeast Higher Education District consists of Hibbing Community College, Itasca Community…

  • Magnetation moves to drain pit for new mine

    Magnetation moves to drain pit for new mine

    Lost in the din of bad news about Iron Range mines last week was this nugget: The scram mining operation Magnetation is a step closer to dewatering the Canisteo Pit near Bovey to begin mining untapped ore reserves underneath the adjacent Buckeye Pit. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is taking public comments on the project…

  • U.S. Steel to idle Keewatin Taconite, affecting 400 workers

    U.S. Steel to idle Keewatin Taconite, affecting 400 workers

      Today, U.S. Steel announced it will idle its Keewatin Taconite mine and processing plant in 90 days. The mine employs more than 400 people and produces about six million tons of taconite pellets annually. With about five million tons stockpiled on the property this shutdown could last several months unless market conditions improve dramatically.…

  • Political improv for a new Iron Range generation

    Political improv for a new Iron Range generation

    A young professionals group on the Iron Range is bringing some cutting edge political humor to the Mesabi with a Saturday performance by the Theater of Public Policy improv group from Minneapolis. ReGen is sponsoring the show, which will be Saturday, March 14 at the Minnesota Discovery Center. Will they add some unique Iron Range…

  • New future for Old Central?

    New future for Old Central?

    Last year we learned that a group of investors was exploring the idea of starting a brewpub restaurant in the Old Central School in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. Earlier this week community members met with architects for the project to ask questions and air their concerns about the idea. The idea is still very much in…

  • Iron ore tumble highlights hole in mining debate

    Iron ore tumble highlights hole in mining debate

    Over the past two weeks of the Minnesota legislative session, mining politics and environmental regulation has dominated the headlines here on the Mesabi Iron Range. I’m not sure how many people not directly involved in the debate read the stories. I can barely choke down the blend of rhetoric and repetition myself, but I suppose regular folks…

  • Star Tribune investigates IRRRB political ties

    Star Tribune investigates IRRRB political ties

    This morning the Star Tribune published an investigative story by Jennifer Bjorhus exploring political connections between the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board and the projects under its sway. Bjorhus paid particular attention to a 2006 IRRRB project funding an Eveleth telemarketing firm that primarily did calls for Democratic-leaning candidates and causes. For years, prominent Democratic candidates and political groups…

  • Magnetation announces ‘indefinite idle’ of Keewatin plant

    Magnetation announces ‘indefinite idle’ of Keewatin plant

    After Mesabi Nugget announced a “warm idle” a couple weeks ago, another Iron Range iron ore producer announced an old fashioned “cold idle” today. Magnetation, the scram mining and iron concentrate producer based in Itasca County, announced today it would indefinitely shut down its Plant One facility near Keewatin. The plant, Magnetation’s smallest, will be…

  • More miners diagnosed with rare lung illness

    More miners diagnosed with rare lung illness

    The Minnesota Department of Health announced yesterday that 21 more cases of mesothelioma in former Iron Range miners were diagnosed, bringing the region’s total to 101. The Duluth News Tribune, among others, has the story this morning. The news is significant because a major study by the University of Minnesota recently concluded with uncertain results,…

  • Cliffs CEO details DRI hopes, swipes at Essar

    Cliffs CEO details DRI hopes, swipes at Essar

    Cliffs Natural Resources CEO Lourenco Goncalves spoke yesterday morning at the company’s annual community breakfast in Virginia, Minnesota. WDIO was there: To stay strong in the steel industry, the company is very seriously considering making DRI grade pellets, which have a higher iron content. Northshore Mining has already tested this possibility. “We are working on three…