-
Range mines catch a Super Mario star
If Iron Range mines were Super Mario, they’d be blinking while knocking off Goombas left and right. More on that below. This week brought quarterly earnings reports from the two biggest mining companies on Minnesota’s Iron Range, U.S. Steel and Cliffs Natural Resources. Both companies show significant improvement from a dismal 2015. Cliffs posted a profit…
-
Inside fundraising in House 6A Range DFL primary
Last week at the blog we dove into a debate over who funds Iron Range campaigns. At the time we didn’t have access to the first major campaign finance reports. Well, the Campaign Finance Board released those reports Tuesday morning. You can view them for yourself here. So let’s explore the fundraising for Northern Minnesota’s…
-
U.S. Steel slashes 25 percent of salaried jobs
Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel, owner and operator of two major mines on the Mesabi Iron Range and co-owner of a third, announced Wednesday it would slash 25 percent of its salaried workforce. The job cuts are focused on its North American operations. From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: The steelmaker had 21,000 employees in North America as of…
-
Cliffs eyes acquiring Essar plant
As snow fades from the ditches of Northern Minnesota, the Essar Steel construction site north of Nashwauk remains frozen in time. Minor movement in and out of the site is but partial salve for the idled hope of hundreds of jobs from the region’s largest new mining project in a generation. Essar has stated that it hopes…
-
Confusion over deal for unemployed miners
On Friday, the Minnesota House of Representatives passed a bill funding extended unemployment benefits for laid off Iron Range miners attached to controversial unemployment tax cuts for businesses. Though House DFLers opposed the pairing of those two issues, ultimately most Range DFLers argued for its passage so that unemployed miners without benefits could receive aid. Rep.…
-
Magnetation coming back, but Plant 1 in doubt
Like other Iron Range mining operations, Grand Rapids-based Magnetation was battered by the collapse in iron ore pricing and domestic steel demand last year. The homegrown Northern Minnesota company declared bankruptcy and lost ownership interest to a hedge fund amid financial restructuring. In 2014, Magnetation had four plants running, salvaging old mining waste from decades earlier and extracting…
-
Obama OKs more enforcement to block steel dumping
Late last week, President Obama approved new measures to better enforce trade protections against illegal steel imports. The efforts would provide more funding to investigate allegations of steel dumping, or selling steel for less than it costs to make. The move comes amid some relief in steel pricing on the world market, a factor that…
-
Nashwauk mayor Ben DeNucci enters 6A race
Nashwauk Mayor Ben DeNucci announced his candidacy for the DFL nomination for House of Representatives in District 6A on the central Iron Range. DeNucci is the owner of DeNucci’s Saloon in downtown Nashwauk and Keewatin Auto Repair in nearby Keewatin, where he also works. DeNucci made his announcement in a Crystal Dey story in the Hibbing Daily Tribune.…
-
Lost special session only one of Range’s problems
Laid-off Iron Range miners will have to wait until the late start of the legislative session this March to see if the legislature will act to extend their unemployment benefits. GOP House Speaker Kurt Daudt announced Tuesday that his caucus would not support Gov. Mark Dayton’s call for a special session to aid miners displaced by a global…
-
My Christmas story in the Star Tribune
Merry Christmas, dear reader. I’m very proud to share this piece I wrote for the Star Tribune, which runs today as part of their “10,000 Takes” essay series. It’s a Christmas story, but much more than that. In fact, I’ve never written anything as personal as this piece, certainly not for a large publication. I’m a little…
-
The year Santa came early on the Iron Range
Every Christmas I’ve known occurred in the same place, in pretty much the same way. We spend Christmas Eve south of Eveleth with the Browns. Christmas is in Keewatin with the Johnsons. It’s been this way since before I can remember, all through childhood and long after I left home and got married. When my…
-
Steelworkers reach tentative deal with U.S. Steel
The bargaining team for the United Steelworkers announced Saturday they had reached a tentative agreement with U.S. Steel. Though the union is not yet releasing details, the Steelworkers’ statement indicates that terms of the contract deal are better than what was being offered over the summer. From the statement: As you know, our industry is…
-
U.S. Steel, union to resume talks this week
The U.S. Steel Corporation and the United Steelworkers resume talks this week in Pittsburgh after a cooling off period. Union officials say the company has made a new offer and that they will review and discuss the offer at these new meetings. The union has said that U.S. Steel has been asking for serious concessions in…
-
NY Times paints grim picture for Iron Range mines
A business story in yesterday’s New York Times carries this headline: “If It Owns a Well or a Mine, It’s Probably in Trouble.” And since that describes many of the largest businesses on Northern Minnesota’s Mesabi Iron Range, we can rightly take warning. Companies that produce commodities — oil, iron, copper or the like —…
-
Devil in the details for Steelworkers special session
Gov. Mark Dayton and Senate DFLers are still seeking a special session to help Steelworkers whose unemployment will run out between now and March. They also seek economic measures to address racial disparities in the state. As we discussed last week, House Republicans declined to support such a session unless Dayton established support for two controversial projects, the…