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Essar Steel Minnesota LLC
555 W 27th Street Hibbing MN 55746
Telephone: 218-263-3331
Fax: 218-262-1497 Email: CorporateCommunications@EssarSteelMN.com
Essar Steel Minnesota is building a state-of-the-art
Open Pit Mining, Concentrator and Pellet Plant operation which will
be followed by a DRI plant and Slab Caster. Once operational, Essar
Steel Minnesota will be the first fully-integrated mine through steel-making
facility in North America. Our goal is to be the low cost producer of
high quality steel. We are located on the west end of the Mesabi Iron Range
in northeastern Minnesota, and are adjacent to the community of Nashwauk.
Essar Steel Minnesota is part of Essar Steel, a global producer
of steel with a footprint covering India, Canada, USA, Middle East and
Asia. Essar Steel is a fully integrated flat carbon steel manufacturer
from iron ore to ready-to-market products.
Our Story
Essar Steel Minnesota was acquired by Essar Steel Holdings Ltd
in October 2007. Essar Steel is a global producer of steel with a footprint
covering India, Canada, USA, Middle East and Asia. It is a fully integrated
flat carbon steel manufacturer--from iron ore to ready-to-market products.
Its products find wide acceptance in highly discerning consumer sectors,
such as automotive, white goods, construction, engineering and shipbuilding.
It is India’s largest exporter of flat steel products and aims to reach
25 MTPA capacity by 2012.
The Essar Steel Minnesota project will be a conventional open
pit mining, concentrating and pellet plant operation followed by a DRI
plant and slab caster. The company has secured the rights to mine perhaps
the only iron ore body in North America capable of supporting low cost
pellets. This unique deposit contains very coarse grains of iron and
silica, a waste material that ends up in slag in the blast furnaces.
Large grain size is key because these coarse grains are easily—and
economically—separated, so the resulting pellets contain very little
silica. At 1.5-1.6% silica, Essar Steel Minnesota’s pellets compare very
favorably to the Iron Range average of about 5% silica. Pellets will be
processed onsite into direct reduced iron (DRI), an interim step in the company’s
steelmaking process.
Low silica content is necessary because Essar Steel Minnesota
will transform DRI into steel in an electric arc furnace (EAF), a low
cost steelmaking method that cannot remove large amounts of silica.
Fact Sheet
Essar Steel Minnesota’s vertically integrated steel mill now can
anticipate significant advantages over conventional iron ore mining and
blast furnace operations, as well as mini-mill EAF facilities.
COST
Iron ore pellets will be turned into DRI, which will be fed hot
into the steelmaking furnace—saving energy and increasing productivity.
Coarse-grained ore makes recovering iron cheaper than in other
pellet plant operations.
Less handling means less damage to pellets and DRI, which will
improve yield.
Financial resources won’t be tied up in excess inventory.
Transportation will involve shipping a final product—not an
iron ore pellet with up to 30% waste that requires significant further
processing.
With these advantages, Essar Steel Minnesota will be the lowest-cost
steel producer in the USA and potentially in North America
ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS
Energy savings in processing and transportation will result in
significantly fewer air emissions compared to traditional iron ore mining
and steelmaking.
DRI will be produced with clean burning natural gas.
The electric arc furnace offers significant environmental improvements
over blast furnaces, which require coke—the making of which generates
significant air emissions and waste.
Because no external scrap will be used in making steel, there
will be no generation of waste often associated with contaminants found
in scrap.
ECONOMICS
With access to rail, ship and trucking, Essar Steel Minnesota
can offer rapid product delivery to meet today’s just-in-time inventory
requirements— much quicker and at significantly lower cost than foreign
producers attempting to serve North American markets.
As the low cost producer, Essar Steel Minnesota will be sustainable
over the long term—positioned to weather the inevitable cycles in the
steel markets that higher cost producers cannot.
Mesabi Nugget
Nugget plant breaking its own production records
Manager: Settlement with MPCA is from legacy issues
By CHARLES RAMSAY Regional Editor, May 12, 2011
Mesabi Nugget http://www.steeldynamics.com
The Mesabi Nugget Delaware LLC, iron nugget facility is under
construction near Hoyt Lakes. Mesabi Nugget Delaware, LLC, is the world’s
first commercial iron nugget plant. Operation is scheduled to begin
in 2009. Iron nuggets produced at the facility will feed electric arc
furnaces at Steel Dynamics, Inc., in Butler, Ind.
Steel Dynamics, Inc., and Kobe Steel, Ltd., of Japan are partners
in the project. An iron nugget production technology pioneered by Kobe
Steel, Ltd., and proven on a pilot scale at Northshore Mining Co. in
Silver Bay, will be used to produce the nuggets. Steel Dynamics says
the plant will be capable, at a favorable cost, of providing to its steel
mills a domestic source of iron units that are of equal or higher quality
than purchased pig iron. Additional iron nugget units may be constructed.
Steel Dynamics has separately acquired land at the site to re-open an
iron mine and build a $165 million facility to concentrate the ore as
feed for the iron nugget plant. In addition to producing a new product
made from iron ore concentrate, the project will create a significant number
of new mining-related jobs and support suppliers within the region.
Taxes paid by the operation would boost revenues to local units
of government and the state. The plant and mine are being developed
at the site of the former LTV Steel Mining Co. taconite plant, which closed
in 2001.
Capital cost: $260 million (iron nugget plant), $165 million (mine)
Estimated permanent employment: 65 plus in 2009
Construction workers: 500
HOYT LAKES -- Mesabi Nugget is busy breaking its own production
records the past several months, and is looking to get near its 500,000-ton
production goal this year. The plant, which uses Kobe Steel’s unique
IT3 technology in making 97 percent-pure iron nuggets, produced 100,000
metric tons in March, and then broke that total in April. The plant will
shut down today for improvements to its furnace lining and should be back
up in a short time, a company news release said. The company agreed last
week to pay a $12,500 civil penalty to the Minnesota Pollution Control
Agency for alleged water quality violations and “have since fulfilled
all of the settlement’s required corrective actions,” a May 2 MPCA statement
said.
There is one customer for all of the plant’s output for now. “It’s
all internally consumed by our parent company, Steel Dynamics,” Mesabi
Nugget plant manager Jeff Hansen said Thursday. The mine’s output is
expected to go up as some of the fine-tuning to production goes on, he
said. All nuggets are shipped by rail to SDI in Indiana, while iron ore
concentrate is received from the Iron Range, Magnetation in Nashwauk and
Northshore Mining in Babbitt and Silver Bay. “We like to think of ourselves
as the next generation of miners,” Hansen explained.
Mesabi Nugget’s production may well be a trend for future mining
on the Range, as more and more steel producers nationally require purer
iron for their electric-arc furnaces. More than half of steel produced
is from electric-arc furnaces, not the older-style blast furnaces that
taconite plants shape their iron pellets for. Electric-arc steel furnaces
require high-quality metallic iron, as opposed to iron oxide, or taconite
pellets. Such nuggets are key for Minnesota, as that’s the growing part
of the steel market, Hansen said. “Minnesota ore hasn’t been able to penetrate
the electric-arc furnace market, until now.” When the worldwide economic
recession hit in 2008, electric-arc furnaces were still producing steel
when blast furnace steelmakers shut down. Iron nugget production “offers
a high level of stability,” he added. Mesabi Nugget started production in
January 2010, with the world’s first plant using minority partner Kobe Steel’s
technology. With the only operating iron nugget plant running, if a problem
develops, employees work as a team to determine what the best solution is.
“Really, it’s a trial and error process,” Hansen said. Adjustments have
been made as nugget production continued in 2010, with some stops for fine-tuning.
The plant shut down for about two weeks in November for maintenance before
work resumed. Production for all of 2010 totaled 67,000 metric tons. Some
equipment issues cropped up in January, but then production ramped up in
February. The plant combines four traditionally separate processes into one:
The blast furnace, cinter plant, coke oven and pellet plant. The process
adds to energy efficiency, environmental benefits and cost savings. An agglomerator
process is included for nuggets, something like part of taconite pellet production,
but the feedstock is 50 percent coal, which helps inject carbon which adds
to the rotary-furnace process.
“That chemical reaction is required,” Hansen noted,
as it takes iron oxide to a metallic product. The company is still hiring,
and in perhaps the next year or so officials are looking to start up iron
ore mining to produce their own concentrate. Several more plants may be
started up in the future as well. Two more plants on the Range is “quite
a ways off,” Hansen said. “It’s possible. A lot of that hinges on the success
of the product. Low-cost concentrate is critical.” Having a domestic source
for iron nuggets on the Iron Range that is “relatively close” to electric-arc
steel producers like SDI in Indiana “is an advantage,” he added. So
far there have been inquiries but no other customers about iron nuggets.
“There certainly is a significant amount of interest in what we’re doing
in the iron and steel industry,” Hansen said. Regarding the stipulation
agreement with the MPCA, which said the plant’s water output did not
meet effluent limits and volume restrictions, Hansen said, “We take our
environmental responsibility seriously.” Of the $300 million spent by
backers of the Mesabi Nugget project, upwards of $100 million was spent
on environmental safety, such as heat recovery, controlled air emissions,
a wet scrubber and “baghouse,” as well as wastewater treatment. “These
are legacy issues associated with the pit water,” Hansen said of the effluent.
The plant is using the old pit No. 1 of the former LTV Mining Co. for its
water needs. “It wasn’t as a result of our operation,” he said. Hansen commended
the backers of the project, who decided to proceed with plant construction
in the middle of the economic recession. More than 2,000 workers were involved
in construction at one point or another, for a million worker-hours of construction.
If Mesabi Nugget is producing at 3/4 capacity of its annual capacity for
500,000 tons this year, “that would be good,” Hansen said, and could help
them meet their goal in 2012.
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United Taconite Cleveland-Cliffs,
Inc
United Taconite LLC http://www.cleveland-cliffs.com
6 million tons per year from 5.3 million tons.
United Taconite LLC is proposing to significantly
reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, mercury and other air pollutants
while increasing production of taconite pellets under a $104 million improvement
project at United Taconite’s processing plant in Forbes, Minnesota.
The Green Production Project includes an estimated $35 million
for retrofitting the plant to burn lower-emitting fuels and adding new
emission control equipment. Upgrades to United Taconite’s concentrator
and pellet plant equipment will allow an increase in taconite pellet production
to 6 million tons per year from 5.3 million tons. Twenty-four new jobs
will be added.
The project allows United Taconite to use lower emission
fuels. Currently, United Taconite uses a combination of fuels that includes
natural gas, fuel oil, petroleum coke and Eastern coal. The Green Production
Project will allow enhanced fuel blending and the use of lower-emitting
fuels, resulting in substantially less use of petroleum coke and natural
gas in favor of low sulfur coal and biomass.
The renovations will allow United Taconite to use Renewafuel,
a next-generation, carbon-neutral biofuel with substantially fewer greenhouse
gas, sulfur dioxide and mercury emissions than fossil fuels. When all
the improvements are in place, United Taconite is expected to have the
lowest combined emissions per ton of taconite produced of any facility
operating in Minnesota.
Construction will begin after the approval of permit amendments
filed with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. United Taconite,
which includes a mine in Eveleth, Minnesota, employs about 557 employees
and has an annual payroll, including benefits, of about $50 million.
The taconite facility is wholly owned by Cleveland-Cliffs, Inc.
Capital cost: $104 million Estimated permanent employment:
24 Construction workers: Not yet available
United Taconite facilities in Eveleth Forbes to be idled
EVELETH, Minn. (AP) July 29, 2015 5km South of Virginia
Cliffs Natural Resources says it will temporarily idle its United Taconite
mine in Eveleth and its pellet plant in Forbes.
About 480 employees work at the two facilities on Minnesota's Iron Range,
which has been hard hit by layoffs this spring and summer.
Cliffs CEO Laurenco Goncalves announced the idling on the company's earnings
call Wednesday. Goncalves attributed the shutdown to a decline in demand from
the company's customers that use the taconite pellets to make steel in giant
blast furnaces. WDIO-TV reports Goncalves also said the facilities will be
idled in a way that they can promptly bring back operations.
In St. Paul, Minnesota Public Radio News reports Gov. Mark Dayton told reporters
Wednesday that he's heading to the Iron Range to meet with steelworkers who
will be idled.
United Taconite is located in Minnesota’s Mesabi Iron Range with mining
facilities in Eveleth and pellet processing in Forbes.
Previously EVTAC Mining Company, the operation produced its first pellets
in 1965 and was idled in May 2003 after filing for bankruptcy protection.
The Mine assets were acquired in December 2003 by a subsidiary of Cleveland-Cliffs
Inc (70%) and Laiwu Steel Group Ltd. (30%) of China. Cliffs (now Cliffs Natural
Resources) later bought out its partner but retains a trade agreement to provide
pellets to Laiwu.
After the material is mined in Eveleth, it is transported to the Forbes
processing. The processing plant utilizes crushing along with five rod mill/ball
mill circuits, three stages of magnetic separation, five filter machines,
12 balling drums and two grate-kiln indurating units. United’s finished pellets
are transported by rail 60 miles south to the docks in Duluth, Minnesota.
Following completion of a capital expansion in December 2004, the mine
has an annual rated capacity of 5.2 million gross tons per year.
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USS
Keetac mine
U. S. Steel is also involved in railroad and barge
transportation services
through its Transtar, Inc. subsidiary. Keetac 1 Mine
Road
Keewatin, MN 55753 218-778-8700
KeeTac expansion moves forward
DNR makes decision on environmental review
Published: Monday, January 3, 2011
KEEWATIN — One of the two necessary agencies has determined
the final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposed KeeTac
mine expansion adequate. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
(DNR) announced its determination Thursday. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
must still issue its own separate and independent decision on the final
EIS. Estimated to begin in 2012 or 2013, the KeeTac project would expand the
existing mine and restart an idle production line. The proposed expansion
would increase Keetac’s annual pellet production output by 3.6 million tons,
to a total of 9.6 million tons per year, according to the DNR.
“We are very happy that this thorough review process paved the
way for what could be an important project for northern Minnesota,” DNR
Commissioner Mark Holsten said in a release. “If the proposed project
proceeds, it will mean a boost in employment on the Range.” The EIS review
process began in the spring of 2008. The process identified several opportunities
for reductions in the project’s environmental impacts, including avoiding
the loss of 100 acres of wetlands. Once the final EIS has been determined
adequate by both the DNR and Army Corps of Engineers, state permits may be
issued for the proposed project — if it complies with state regulations.
About U. S. Steel
United States Steel Corporation, headquartered in Pittsburgh,
Pa., is an integrated steel producer with major production operations
in the United States, Canada and Central Europe and an annual raw steelmaking
capability of 31.7 million net tons. The company manufactures a wide range
of value-added steel sheet and tubular products for the automotive, appliance,
container, industrial machinery, construction, and oil and gas industries.
U. S. Steel’s integrated steel facilities include Gary
Works, which is made up of Gary Works in Gary, Ind., East Chicago, Ind.,
and the Midwest Plant in Portage, Ind.; Great Lakes Works in Ecorse
and River Rouge, Mich.; Mon Valley Works, which includes the Edgar Thomson
Plant and the Irvin Plant near Pittsburgh, Pa., and the Fairless Plant
near Philadelphia, Pa.; Granite City Works in Granite City, Ill.; Fairfield
Works in Fairfield, Ala.; Lake Erie Works in Nanticoke, Ontario, and Hamilton
Works in Hamilton, Ontario, both of which make up U. S. Steel Canada;
U. S. Steel Košice in the Slovak Republic; and U. S.
Steel Serbia in the Republic of Serbia.
U. S. Steel is also involved in several steel finishing
joint ventures in the United States, Brazil, Canada and Mexico.
U. S. Steel prides itself on being a leader
in both process and product technology and has three research and development
facilities dedicated to advancing the boundaries of steelmaking: the
Research and Technology Center in Munhall, Pa.; the Automotive Center,
a research and sales facility in Troy, Mich.; and USSE Research in Košice.
U. S. Steel has tubular operations in Bellville, Houston,
Hughes Springs, and Lone Star Texas; Pine Bluff, Ark.; Birmingham, Ala.;
Lorain, Ohio; and McKeesport, Pa. The company also maintains tubular
products sales offices in Denver, Co., Houston, and Calgary, Alberta
Canada and operates the Innovation and Technology Center in Houston.
U. S. Steel produces coke at Mon Valley Works’ Clairton
Plant near Pittsburgh as well as at Gary Works, Granite City Works, Lake
Erie Works, Hamilton Works and U. S. Steel Košice. The company operates
two iron ore mines through its Minnesota Ore Operations on the Mesabi Iron
Range in northern Minnesota: one in Mt. Iron (Minntac) and one in Keewatin
(Keetac). Both mine an iron-bearing rock called taconite and process
it into concentrated iron ore pellets, which are converted to liquid
iron in the company’s blast furnaces.
USS Keetac http://www.ussteel.com
A United States Steel Corp. capital investment program
at its Minnesota Ore Operations Keetac iron ore pellet production facility
in Keewatin will boost production by 3.6 million tons per year. The program
would increase production, enhance overall environmental performance,
support the facility’s long-term viability, and create construction jobs
and new permanent jobs.
It would take about 36 months after the permitting
process to complete and modernize a pellet production line that has been
idle at the plant since 1980. Restarting the line would involve energy-efficient
technologies in addition to new emission controls to exceed current
environmental standards. Annual production capacity would increase to
9.6 million tons, making it the second largest taconite plant on Minnesota’s
Iron Range.
In addition to increasing production and improving
environmental standards, there will be upgrades to mining, concentrating,
and agglomerating processes to support the increased production requirements.
The program includes the purchase of additional mining equipment and
the installation of additional processing equipment. Minnesota Ore Operations,
which includes Keetac and Minntac Mine in Mountain Iron, is Minnesota’s
largest producer of iron ore pellets, the key ingredient used to make
steel.
The production of additional iron ore pellets benefits
local communities and the state through the payment of taconite taxes.
Capital cost: More than $300 million Estimated permanent
employment: 75 Construction workers: 500
U. S. Steel is also involved in railroad and barge
transportation services through its Transtar, Inc. subsidiary and real
estate operations through its USS Real Estate division.
Every day, U. S. Steel employees around the world dedicate
themselves to putting our five core values into action. Safety is first
– it’s our company’s top priority. Our other core values are diversity
and inclusion; environmental stewardship; focus on cost, quality and
customer; and results and accountability. Focusing on these values guides
our highly skilled workforce toward realizing our Vision: Making Steel.
World Competitive. Building Value.
U. S. Steel’s operations are efficient and high tech,
and our customer focus is intense. We’ve been making steel for more than
100 years, always with an eye to serving our customers’ needs in the
most cost-effective ways possible.
Companies that want to be competitive in an increasingly
global marketplace must have a global outlook and presence. U. S. Steel
continually looks for opportunities to strengthen our existing presence
in the global arena and strives to meet and set world-class standards
in everything we do.
At U. S. Steel, creating value for our stakeholders
is a priority. To ensure our long-term success, we aim to build value
for our customers, employees, shareholders, creditors, and the communities
in which we operate using the same responsible approach that has positioned
us as a leader in our industry.
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United States Steel Corporation
Minnesota Ore Operations
Overview U. S. Steel’s Minnesota Ore Operations, located on the
Mesabi Iron Range in northern Minnesota, is composed of two facilities:
Minntac in Mt. Iron and Keetac in Keewatin. At these facilities, iron-bearing
rock called taconite is mined and processed into iron ore pellets for
use in U. S. Steel’s steelmaking facilities. Annual production capability
at Minntac is approximately 16 million net tons of pellets, while Keetac
can produce approximately six million net tons of pellets each year.
Contact Information
United States Steel Corporation - Minnesota Ore Operations Minntac
8819 Old Highway 169 Mt. Iron, MN 55768 1-800-752-7299
Keetac 1 Mine Road Keewatin, MN 55753 218-778-8700
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ArcelorMittal Minorca
ArcelorMittal Minorca is located near Virginia, Minn. and is one of
the company’s leading sources of iron ore – a major raw material required
in the manufacturing of steel. Minorca supplies about 50 percent of No.
7 Blast Furnace’s pelletized iron requirements.
Each year, Minorca produces about 2.8 million tons of fluxed iron-bearing
pellets, and mines about 18 million tons of ore, rock, and waste material.
The pellets are shipped to ArcelorMittal Indiana Harbor located in East
Chicago, Indiana. Next, the pellets are charged into Indiana Harbor’s No.
7 Blast Furnace, which is capable of producing more than 12,500 tons of molten
iron a day. Minorca supplies about 50 percent of No. 7 Blast Furnace’s pelletized
iron requirements.
ArcelorMittal Minorca 5950 Old Highway 53 N Virginia, MN 55792 T
+1 218 749 5910
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Thompson Cliffs
Canada
Expected ramp up of Bloom Lake to 8 million
metric tons and further expansion to 16 million metric tons.
Cliffs has completed the acquisition of Consolidated Thompson
Iron Mines Limited, an emerging world-class iron ore producer located
in Eastern Canada, for C$4.9 billion. Cliffs is enthusiastic about expanding
its investment in Eastern Canada, where it has for decades operated the
Wabush-Scully mine and Pointe Noire pellet plant and port.
The acquisition provides Cliffs with strategically
important links to deep-sea ports in Sept-Îles, Québec and customers
of seaborne product, helping Cliffs gain increased pricing flexibility.
The Consolidated Thompson acquisition complements Cliffs’ strategy and
further solidifies its position among the world’s top ten iron ore producers.
Cliffs’ Acquisition of Consolidated Thompson:
is part of Cliffs’ strategic plan to build scale by
owning expandable and exportable steelmaking raw material assets serving
the world’s emerging economies.
provides Cliffs the opportunity to build and grow strong
business relationships with Consolidated Thompson’s current customers,
along with acquiring its premium assets.
is good for Cliffs as it renews Cliffs’ culture of
ambitious growth and performance.
is good for Consolidated Thompson employees as all
properties and employees are considered essential to Cliffs’ growth
plans in Eastern Canada.
is good for Canada as it represents job growth and
new investment by a company committed to sustainable development.
Cliffs’ Investment in Eastern Canada Includes:
An anticipated half a billion dollars in capital and
equipment over the next three years.
Expansion plans at Wabush Mines with the intent to
increase annual capacity, continue to maximize production and extend
the life of the Scully mine.
Capital improvement plans underway at the Pointe Noire
port facilities. |
The bedrock of Minnesota Mining
Critical state support for iron ore and precious metals
grows strong industries
Minnesota Department of Natural
Resources: early 1980s forms the
Iron Ore Cooperative to fund research to improve iron
ore and taconite processing.
Administered by DNR’s Division of Lands and Minerals,
the Cooperative is made up of taconite industry and minerals
research lab representatives. NRRI researchers serve on subcommittees.
Taconite plants suggest research projects that
they need done
Taconite mining and processing into pellets is a
unique industry in the U.S. relegated to specific areas of Minnesota and
Michigan. But it is also large, vital and complex. Ongoing research to
improve the process is critical to keep production costs down and quality
high. So it makes sense that the three major taconite producers in North
America — Cliffs Natural Resources, U.S. Steel and ArcelorMittal — work
together to share research information.
This cooperative effort was especially crucial during the early
1980s recession when steel production in the U.S. was grinding to a
halt and demand for taconite pellets plummeted. It was then that the
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
formed the Iron Ore Cooperative to fund research to improve
iron ore and taconite processing.
Administered by the DNR’s Division of Lands and Minerals,
the Cooperative is made up of taconite industry and
minerals research lab representatives. NRRI researchers
Blair Benner, Dave Englund and Dick Kiesel serve on subcommittees.
NRRI_minerals_
lab_Coleraine
“The taconite plants suggest research projects that they need
done,” explained Dave Hendrickson, director of NRRI’s minerals lab in
Coleraine. “Requests for research proposals are sent out and responded
to, and the projects are given to a research organization. It’s a very
competitive process.”
The Iron Ore Cooperative addresses
the specific and unique needs of the taconite companies with shared
research. And because NRRI works hand-in-glove
with the mining industry, it is able to consistently anticipate research
needs, and frequently gets chosen to conduct the research.
Currently, NRRI minerals
researchers are working on three projects funded by the
Iron Ore Cooperative.
Kiesel is working to provide taconite plants
a cost-effective biomass replacement for their coal- fueled induration
furnaces. He has a pilot scale torrefaction machine that produces a charred
wood product with properties similar to coal. Kiesel is also working
to improve pellet quality before and after they’re fired. His lab-scale
research delves into the process of mixing the binder and the taconite
concentrate, and whether high intensity mixing equipment will be more
effective. After all the mixing and high-heat cooking, the pellets need
to be cooled. Englund’s research uses computer models to find the most
cost-effective balance between the production rate and energy efficiency
of the cooling process.
Since its inception, the Iron
Ore Cooperative has provided public investment of approximately $600,000
per biennium, matched by about $400,000 in private funds over the same
period, according to the DNR.
While taconite received its due attention, industry leaders and
legislators in the 1980s realized that the singular focus on iron ore
mining wasn’t economically wise for Northern Minnesota. In 1987,
a Minerals Diversification Plan was accepted by the state legislature
and funding was established to stimulate the development of copper, nickel
and other precious metals mining. NRRI’s Economic Geology
Group played a lead role in this effort.
“When NRRI was established, we were looking at diversifying
Minnesota’s mineral potential,” said Thys Johnson, former director of
NRRI’s Center for Applied Research and Technology Development.
“(Geologist) Steve Hauck and I talked to people and put together
a big program for the Minerals Diversification Fund
to get things going in Minnesota.”
This early funding has led to today’s detailed
understanding of the state’s Duluth Complex,
a valuable deposit of copper, nickel and platinum group
elements poised for economic development.
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