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Steelworkers suffer big defeat in Mesabi Nugget vote
Last Friday, the United Steelworkers conceded defeat in the unionization vote at the Mesabi Nugget plant near Aurora. The Mesabi Daily News had the story. According to Mesabi Nugget the vote was 57-21. The vote took place over two days, included a complete unionization drive by the Steelworkers and was overseen by federal labor officials.…
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Essar on track for 2013 start on the Range
The big grinding mills have arrived at Essar Steel Minnesota’s taconite plant north of Nashwauk. The photo here shows one being unloaded at the Port of Duluth Tuesday. These mills are a distinct feature of taconite plants, constantly rotating 24 hours a day crushing rock down to fine powder for concentration into iron-rich taconite pellets.…
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Floods wash out Duluth, much of northern region
Northern Minnesota and Wisconsin have seen some historic flooding in the past 12 hours, mostly due to flash floods and overwhelmed storm sewers from an unrelenting rain which continues at this hour. No travel is advised in Duluth, Superior, the North Shore and in other parts of the region. The city of Duluth is all…
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Join us Saturday in Brainerd for the Great Northern Radio Show
Today we pack up the overnight bag and trek from the Mesabi Range to the Cuyuna Range, a drive much more common to my family in the 1950s but one seldom taken nowadays. My dad spent some time in Crosby as a kid as his dad and grandpa mined the last underground iron ore there.…
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IRRRB approves $31.2 million as mining revenue fully recovers
The IRRRB approved a $31.2 million budget for the upcoming fiscal year at its meeting this morning. The funds will cover many different projects around the Iron Range, among them a notable new effort to restore decaying housing stock in the old towns of the Range. This is an increasing economic and aesthetic problem in…
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Twin Metals doubles mineral estimate near Ely
Twin Metals is doubling their estimate of available copper-nickel minerals in the deposit they hope to mine near Ely. The geologists I talk to seem to agree, politics aside, there is a lot of copper and other minerals down there. Related posts: No related posts.
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Hibbing Taconite mine tours open summer Thursdays
The Minnesota Discovery Center will once again be coordinating tours of Hibbing Taconite during the summer. Anyone making a trip up to the Iron Range who hasn’t seen a modern taconite operation should check this out. CHISHOLM, MN, JUNE 5, 2012 – Minnesota Discovery Center, Hibbing Taconite and Shubat Transportation are teaming up again this…
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Mesaba Park holds midsummer event June 22-23
One of the quirky throwbacks to the Iron Range’s labor tradition is the Mesaba Co-op Park on the edge of Hibbing. It is a cooperative recreational park where labor organizers and early socialists once met, sometimes under the watchful eye of labor spies and the FBI. Built largely by the Finns who settled the Cherry…
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Colangelo looks to reverse GOP fortunes on the eastern Range
One of the interesting legislative races to watch this year is the new 6B, where three DFLers and two GOPers are running to succeed retiring State Rep. Tom Rukavina (DFL-Pike Township). Though the district partisan index continues to favor the DFL, where Lorrie Janatopoulos, Jason Metsa and Dave Meyer are running in a very competitive…
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Magnetation now cites land issues in dropping MN plant site
A new twist has been added to the revelation that Magnetation would build their taconite pellet plant in Wisconsin or Indiana instead of in northern Minnesota where the iron concentrate is produced. Dan Kraker of Minnesota Public Radio reports that company officials say land issues related to their properties in Itasca County prevent them from…
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Soudan underground mine reopens after last year’s fire
A year after the frightening underground fire that threatened both an important historical state park and a multi-million dollar physics research laboratory, the Soudan Underground Mine has reopened for tours. Related posts: No related posts.
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Cherry Tigers are state softball champs!
Congratulations to the girls from my alma mater, Cherry High School, for their state championship victory today. Cherry is a tiny school. I graduated from a class of 38 and it’s much smaller now. Their only other team championship prior to this was the 1997 baseball title won when I went to school there (and…
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Magnetation to build plant in WI or IN, expand MN ore operations
Magnetation announced Thursday it will not build its pellet plant in northern Minnesota as locals had hoped. Instead the scram mining operation that’s expanded quickly on the western Mesabi Iron Range is considering the sites of Superior, Wisconsin or Butler, Indiana. Permitting issues are the top reason, according to the company. Magnetation President Matt Lehtinen…
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Iron Range Maidens host international roller derby bout
So you know about Friday’s jazz concert and next week’s Great Northern Radio Show, but if you need even more Iron Range-based entertainment consider this Saturday night’s Iron Range Maidens roller derby bout. The Iron Range Maidens will face the Babes of Thunder of Thunder Bay, Ontario, in the team’s first international smackdown. The bout…
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Connie Evingson back on the Range for benefit concert
Culture, music and history converge this weekend for a special benefit concert in Virginia, Minnesota. Connie Evingson is a great talent who is back to the Range often and Sam Miltich always does a good show, whether in a concert hall or the V-Dub in downtown Grand Rapids. Shows like this remind us of the…