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Iron ore stashed as rail delays snarl Upper Midwest
I just finished reading “Mesabi Pioneers” by Russell Hill and Jeffrey Smith, a new historical novel set in the early days of iron mining on Northern Minnesota’s Iron Range. I’ll have more thoughts about the book in my Sunday newspaper column, but the story did remind me of the central struggle facing the pioneering Merritt…
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It could be years, not months, for PolyMet progress
It’s been several months since the public comments period closed for the environmental review and permitting process for PolyMet, a controversial proposed nonferrous mineral mine in Hoyt Lakes, Minnesota. Most had hoped for news about the completion of the Environmental Impact Statement and a clearer timeline for the final permitting by this fall. However, a Marshall Helmberger interview…
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UPDATE: Where to find Minnesota fall colors 2014
UPDATE (Sept. 30): We have full peak colors in Northern Minnesota, and I’d argue we’re past peak in most of the parts that show dark red on the DNR maps. Any leaves still changing are only replacing leaves that have fallen. We lost quite a bit of the “canopy” on Sunday and Monday. You’ll still…
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Iron Range GOP candidate facing lawsuit for garage chop
Nearly a year and a half ago, the small band of daily commuters on Itasca County Highway 8 noticed that this happened. I posted the picture to social media with a silly Paul Bunyan joke. What we hadn’t realized at the time was that this garage-halving operation was part of a looney, decades-old family property…
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Poll shows slipping support for PolyMet
The proposed PolyMet mine at Hoyt Lakes, Minnesota, is still waiting for news about its permits with a ruling to come from federal and state regulators late this year or early next. But the effects of the long wait and ceaseless statewide debate over the merits of opening new kinds of mineral mines in important Minnesota…
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U.S. Steel cancels KeeTac expansion plan
Business North reports that U.S. Steel announced several strategic decisions today, one of which was to cancel expansion plans at Keewatin Taconite on the Mesabi Iron Range. From the story: U. S. Steel executives said they considered its future raw materials needs for iron ore and coke, and found its current production capability sufficient. The…
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Essar financing appears to fall apart … again
The financing necessary to resume construction at the Essar Steel Minnesota taconite plant in Nashwauk is now in question, according to a Ron Brochu report that ran in the Scenic Range News Forum and Business North. For five years, India-based Essar Steel has been building a new iron mine near where the former Butler Taconite…
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Rail delays knock Minnesota power plant units offline
For more than a year, rail congestion in the Upper Midwest has created high-profile delays for the iconic Empire Builder passenger train. Oil and coal trains out of the western Dakotas and Montana have clogged rails from Williston to Chicago. This week, however, brought the issue to another level. Wisconsin Public Radio reported yesterday that…
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School is in
School is in. That means I’m back teaching classes full time at Hibbing Community College. That means my kids are back at school, needing rides to things, doing activities. I’m preparing another radio show this month (Sept. 27 in Park Rapids, FYI). All of these things together mean I’ll be even more deliberate in how…
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Shocked, SHOCKED, to see Iron Range unemployment gap
Over the weekend, you may have seen the front page story from the Mesabi Daily News declaring the fact that Iron Range unemployment is 64 percent higher than the state average. This was a statistical analysis by editor Bill Hanna, not new information, yet presented in Pearl Harbor banner headline form on the front of the…
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Iron Range town re-opens secret speakeasy tunnel
UPDATE: Photos from the Aug. 29, 2014 event (via Annabella’s Facebook page) Northern Minnesota’s Iron Range experienced a lot of history in a short amount of time. From its rapid transition from native hunting and ricing grounds, to logging fields, to rural industrial mining region 120 years ago, to the collision of dozens of ethnic immigrant groups…
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Twin Metals boasts feasibility, but cuts staff
It’s been a topsy-turvy week for Twin Metals, one of two nonferrous mining projects near the Iron Range. Last week, the company triumphantly touted a “pre-feasibility” study showing that their proposed mine would be extremely profitable — costing $2.77 billion (possibly more expensive than any single private project in state history), but bringing in more…
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New Cliffs leadership commits to iron ore strategy
After a dramatic company shake-up last month, the new CEO of Cliffs Natural Resources is vowing to focus on mining, processing, and shipping iron ore from the Great Lakes region, especially from the Mesabi Iron Range. Cliffs operates and co-owns half the mines on the Iron Range, including Hibbing Taconite, United Taconite in Eveleth and…
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Hibbing named safest city in Minnesota
The Iron Range city of Hibbing has been named the safest city in Minnesota, based on a statistical analysis of violent and property crime rates. The source blog, Safe Choice Security, is a commercial security system seller that uses these rankings as link bait (well played), but the statistics appear valid. It’s hard to declare…
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Grand Rapids investors plan brewpub in Old Central School
A Grand Rapids, Minn., bank executive and the president of Magnetation are teaming up to bring a brewpub restaurant to the first floor of the Old Central School in the Itasca County seat. Ed Zabinski, a city councilor and vice president at Grand Rapids State Bank and Matt Lehtinen, chief operating officer of the scram…