Right now people are voting on DFL primary day in the Minnesota House 3A Special Election. It’d be safe to assume that a good number of people are voting at least in part based on their opinion of controversial Northeastern Minnesota nonferrous mining proposals in the Lake Superior and BWCA watersheds. Some for. Some against. But the outcome… Read More →
Range paper lashes at 3A candidate; Hansen strikes back
September 22, 2015 by 12 Comments
The most interesting dynamic in the House 3A special election DFL primary is the competition between a nonferrous mining skeptic in Tofte businessman Bill Hansen and three candidates who generally support copper-nickel mine proposals in the district. Most campaigns in Northeastern Minnesota have been a knock-down drag-out battle to see who supports mining MORE. Now mining… Read More →
Paper shows PolyMet runoff could reach BWCA after all
August 25, 2015 by 14 Comments
While the proposed nonferrous Polymet mining project near Hoyt Lakes nears the end of its environmental review process, questions remain about the speed with which it could receive permits. One of the most fascinating developments I’ve seen recently is this Marshall Helmberger story in last week’s edition of the Tower Timberjay. According to a June 18,… Read More →
Summer of trials and tribulations on the Iron Range
June 29, 2015 by 1 Comment
The last few months of Iron Range politics and economics have been discouraging. That’s as polite as I can be in describing what’s happened: the repetitive, lazy assumptions of local media, the underreported stories of inside dealings, the overstatement of future economic growth from new kinds of mining and the understatement of the tremendous market pressures… Read More →
Polymet review decision lingers on
June 10, 2015 by 4 Comments
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources says it will need more time to finish the final review response for the controversial PolyMet nonferrous mine project. In this John Myers story in the Duluth News Tribune, Minnesota DNR commissioner Tom Landwehr explained that the official response to the review period won’t be ready until the end of the… Read More →
Shining steel in the summer of change
June 7, 2015 by 2 Comments
On a map the thin red line of the Mesabi iron Range seems to cradle the vast green forests and dark blue lakes of Northern Minnesota. Mesabi, an industrial frontier these last 125 years, has always been where nature meets human progress — for better and worse. So it continues this ever-warming summer of 2015…. Read More →
What’s behind Mesabi Nugget’s long term idle?
May 27, 2015 by 21 Comments
This week, Indiana-based Steel Dynamics announced the indefinite idling of its Minnesota properties, including Mesabi Nugget in Hoyt Lakes and Mining Resources near Chisholm, a scram mining operation that produced iron concentrate used by Mesabi Nugget. About 200 people will lose their jobs and there is no clear sense of when these properties will reopen, though Steel… Read More →
Mesabi Nugget stays down; U.S. Steel continues cuts
April 21, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Business North reports that Steel Dynamics, owner of the Mesabi Nugget plant in Hoyt Lakes, will keep the plant idled as the price of iron remains lower than the cost of production. The idling was announced months ago with the hope that it would end after new equipment was installed during the shutdown. Though the upgrades… Read More →
McCollum bill seeks to protect BWCA from mining
April 15, 2015 by 1 Comment
As the mining industry readies its strategy for the next few years, those seeking environment protections in Northern Minnesota generated headlines this week as well. Yesterday, U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN), representing the St. Paul metro district, introduced legislation that would prevent mining in the same watershed as federal wildernesses like the Boundary Waters Canoe… Read More →
Laskiainen Finnish Sliding Festival in Palo this weekend
February 4, 2015 by 2 Comments
This is an older post about Laskiainen. Click here for the 2016 information. This weekend, Feb. 7-8, the 78th Annual Laskiainen Finnish Sliding Festival will be held near the Loon Lake Community Center in downtown Palo, Minnesota. This annual Iron Range winter tradition originated with Finnish immigrants who settled places like Palo after they were… Read More →
