The Iron Range: A Tale of Two Industries

The only active iron mining region in Minnesota is the Mesabi Range. It stretches from Grand Rapids, Minnesota to Babbitt, Minnesota. It is the largest iron range in the region. In 1902, underground mining began on the Mesabi Iron Range. It was cheaper to use open pit mining and to harvest the low-quality taconite to produce steel.

A multilingual army of immigrants helped build the Iron Range…

– The deep mining pits cut into Minnesota's Iron Range reflect the area's long history as one of the country's most important sources of iron ore. And many of the men who reshaped this landscape ...

Soudan Underground Mine Tours

Underground tour information. Travel 2,341 feet down the shaft to the 27 th level of the Soudan Underground Mine to experience one of the most unique tours in not just Minnesota, but in the whole nation. (Some might even say the whole world!) You will journey into the mine on authentic, expertly-maintained hoisting equipment, followed by …

Scientists just discovered a massive reservoir of …

Resource exploration company Pulsar Helium, Inc. has a drilling rig located just outside of Babbitt in an iron-ore mining district known as the Iron Range, which stretches 175 miles (280 ...

Minnesota Discovery Center: The Museum of the …

We are the Iron Range! Minnesota Discovery Center is the largest museum complex in the state outside the Twin Cities. It's the one place to learn everything about the Land, the Mines, the People and the Work of …

Iron Ranges – Mine Pits : Minnesota Natural Resource Atlas

This data layer indicates the location of historic and active mine pits associated with iron mines in the Vermilion, Mesabi, and Cuyuna Iron Ranges. It was developed by the …

Iron Mining Process

From blasting to crushing to separation – more than 85% of the iron mined in the United States is mined in northeastern Minnesota to make our nation's steel. Blasting Taconite is a very hard rock. Using explosives, the taconite is blasted into small pieces. Transportation The taconite pieces are scooped up by electric shovels. Each...

Iron Range: MN Weekend Getaway

Learn about Iron Range history at the Minnesota Discovery Center in Chisholm, the state's largest museum outside of the Twin Cities. Explore the history of the iron range, including mining history, geology, local immigrant history, depression-area history and other exhibits. The museum also regularly hosts a variety of traveling exhibits.

A brief history of Minnesota's Mesabi Iron Range

The Hull-Rust-Mahoning mine in Hibbing, Minnesota, is the largest open-pit iron mine in Minnesota. As of 2020, material is still …

FAQs

Minnesota's Iron Range, in northern Minnesota, stretches about 175 miles southwest to northeast from Crosby to Ely and is comprised of three individual "ranges," or ore-rich areas: the Cuyuna in the south, the Mesabi in the middle and the Vermilion in the north. There are currently six active mines, all of them are located on the Mesabi.

Biden administration imposes 20-year mining moratorium in …

"Joe Biden banned mining in 225,000 acres of Minnesota's Iron Range, and locked up development of taconite, copper, nickel, cobalt, platinum-group elements, and more."

Iron Range Map

Iron Mining Process; Map; Environment; News; Media; Links Map. 324 West Superior Street, Suite 903 | Duluth MN 55802 218-722-7724 | info@minnesotairon. Join the Conversation ©2024 Minnesota Iron | A Division of Taconite Minnesota Web Design ...

Explore Minnesota

For the past years, all of Minnesota's iron mining has 30 occurred on the Mesabi Iron Range, a narrow belt, approximately three miles wide and 120 miles long, of shallow …

Mining the Iron Range: What If Economic Growth and …

Introduction. The future of mining on the Iron Range has taken a couple of hits in the last month. At the end of December, at the behest of Ramsey County Congresswoman Betty McCollum and environmental activists, a federal spending bill gave the State Department 60 days for another review of the potential effects of Twin Metals' …

Minnesota nickel mine brings environmental …

A long search Unlike the Iron Range, where miners have tunneled deep under the earth and dug massive pits to extract iron ore for more than a century, Aitkin County is not traditional mining country.

Attractions

Discover the Range by visiting Iron Range attractions that celebrate and illuminate our mining, logging and hockey history. You'll find exhibits, wayside stops, overlooks, tours and a whole lot more.

Few People Know The Story Behind Minnesota Becoming The Iron Mining …

Stretching from Babbitt to Grand Rapids, the Mesabi is Minnesota's largest and most productive iron range. Although initially more difficult to access than those in the Vermilion Range, iron deposits on the Mesabi Range were more amenable to open pit mining, and that is still how iron is mined today on the Mesabi. James St. John/Flickr

Explore Minnesota

The Mesabi Iron Range is home to several communities that have a long history of supporting the iron mining industry. Minnesota's Iron Mining Association is a trade group promoting the state's mining industry and is represented by over 200 of the state's mining supplier companies. Minnesota's highways reach all corners of the state. Even in

A very brief history of mining on the Cuyuna …

The Cuyuna Iron Range is a former North American iron-mining district about ninety miles west of Duluth in central Minnesota. Iron mining in the district, the furthest south and west of Minnesota ...

The Iron Range: A Tale of Two Industries

The only active iron mining region in Minnesota is the Mesabi Range. It stretches from Grand Rapids, Minnesota to Babbitt, Minnesota. It is the largest iron range in the region.

Play

Adventure Awaits on the Range Things to Do and Places to Play. We're known for world-class trails of any kind: mountain biking, hiking, paved cycling, snowmobiling, ATV riding…it's all right here on the Range. To Know Us Is To Love Us. Our friendly, down-to-earth nature is seen and felt across the region and we're always up for adventure on …

A Guide to Northern Minnesota's Mining Towns

The Minnesota Discovery Center (1005 Discovery Dr.; 218.254.7959) is a good place to get an overview of the history of mining in the Iron Range. Think of it as a mining theme park, complete with mini-golf, an amphitheater, a 19th-century village, museum, and archives. Chisholm Minnesota Discovery Center.

Iron Mining Association | Promoting a healthy …

The Iron Range and iron mining. Load More Follow on Instagram. Become a Member. If you care about Minnesota's Iron Mining industry, you should become a member. Join Now. Iron Mining …

Things to Do on the Iron Range | Explore Minnesota

Once covered with mountains and a shallow sea, the stretch of Northeast Minnesota known as the Iron Range evolved to serve up mining riches around the year 1890. Miners built the towns of Biwabik, Chisholm, Eveleth, Hibbing, Mountain Iron, ia and more, while the region's deep iron ore deposits fed American industry's hunger for steel and …

Iron Ranges – Mine Pits : Minnesota Natural Resource Atlas

This data layer indicates the location of historic and active mine pits associated with iron mines in the Vermilion, Mesabi, and Cuyuna Iron Ranges. It was developed by the Natural Resources Research Institute by compiling data from multiple sources. ... Funding has been provided by the Minnesota State Legislature, the Legislative-Citizen ...

Cuyuna Iron Range

The Cuyuna Iron Range is a former North American iron-mining district about ninety miles west of Duluth in central Minnesota. Iron mining in the district, the furthest south and west of Minnesota's iron ranges, began in 1907. During World War I and World War II, the district mined manganese-rich iron ores to harden the steel used in wartime production.

Tensions escalate after Biden bans mining in Minnesota's Iron Range …

WASHINGTON (TND) — President Joe Biden has banned mining in Minnesota's Iron Range, escalating tensions over where and how to get minerals crucial to his renewable energy proposals. Republican ...

Minnesota mining history | Minnesota DNR

As it turned out, the iron would become more valuable to northern Minnesota than the gold. Iron ore was discovered on the three iron ranges at different times. The first ore shipped from the Vermilion Range was in 1884, the Mesabi Range in 1892, and the Cuyuna Range in 1911. The mines were operated through the hard work of the miners.

Taconite Dreams: The Struggle to Sustain Mining on Minnesota's Iron …

Jeffrey T Manuel's Taconite Dreams- The Struggle to Sustain Mining on Minnesota's Iron Range, 1915-2000 is an informative book documenting iron mining, the boom and bust of iron mining, the deindustrialization of the iron range, the rise of the taconite industry, foreign competition, attempts at recovery and tourism to revitalize the …

Companies crowd to mine newly viable West Range iron ore

An ambitious new mining company and existing projects promise enormous change on the western Mesabi Iron Range. Minnesota Brown. Modern Life in Northern Minnesota ... but are now hot commodities in a boom to restore "red ore" mining in Minnesota. ... mostly because the iron mining industry converted from non-magnetic …

With copper-nickel mining uncertainty, how long will mining …

A lower-grade iron ore that's in plentiful supply in the Iron Range and Arrowhead region of Minnesota, taconite tailings — the sand-like waste that's left over after ore is extracted — can ...

How important was the Iron Range to winning World War …

Minnesota's Iron Range featured the top iron ore-producing mines in the nation in the early 20th century, helping to build structures like the Empire State Building.

What you need to know about Minnesota's PolyMet and …

Both mines would be on the Iron Range in northeast Minnesota. The Twin Metals mine would be underground at Birch Lake, just outside the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness near Ely.

Mining on the Iron Range | Minnesota Digital Library

Iron mines were generally of two types: open pit and underground. The Iron Range includes three major iron ore deposits: Mesabi Range, Vermilion Range, and the Cuyuna …

Vermilion Iron Range

The Vermilion Range, with its distinctive hard and high-grade iron ore deposits, looms large in the history of the mining industry in Minnesota. It was the first range to open (1884) and also the first to cease commercial mining operations (1967) due to changes in the steel-making process and the rise of cheaper-to-produce taconite on …

Mining on the Iron Range | Minnesota Digital Library

Minnesota's Iron Range is located in the state's far northeastern corner and includes the following counties: Aitkin, Carlton, Cook, Itasca, Koochiching, Lake and Saint Louis. Iron mines were generally of two types: open pit and underground. The Iron Range includes three major iron ore deposits: Mesabi Range, Vermilion Range, and the Cuyuna Range.

Two Iron Range mines are thrown into a political and …

This story originally appeared at Iron Range Today.. It was late May when David Burritt, the chief executive of U.S. Steel, took the stage at a celebration tent outside the Keetac mine, its walls ...

What did the topography of the Iron Range look like

The shape of the Mesabi Iron Range, which cuts a diagonal band across northeastern Minnesota, has been shaped by a bedrock formation called Pokegama Quartzite that served as a "speed bump" for ...

Best things to see and do on Minnesota's Iron …

Minnesota Museum of Mining: It's just off U.S. 169 in Chisholm and is open daily between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Admission is $6, $4 ages 6-17. Minnesota Discovery Center: Formerly …

Low-emissions steelmaking could be big business for Minnesota's Iron …

Mining efforts in the Mesabi Iron Range have focused on taconite ore, a lower-grade iron ore processed from vast pits, since the 1950s. Taconite mining transformed the region after underground mining depleted the …