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Hibbing has two active taconite mines that border it’s city limits - Hibbing Taconite Company and Keewatin Taconite.  You can view one of the biggest operating open pit operations only a few miles from Hibbing’s downtown.  It is 3 miles long, 2 miles wide and 535 feet deep.  The Hull Rust Mahoning view is often tagged as the Grand Canyon of the North.

Currently the mines of Minnesota’s Iron Range contribute  $1.8 billion to Minnesota’s economy. Taconite production is still the largest employer in the central iron range region and the industry promises to grow even greater with the opening of Essar Steel only a few miles west of Hibbing’s foot print.

Hibbing is the home to dozens of mining supply and distribution businesses.  Hibbing schools carry courses that support the areas workforce and most recently have increased STEM courses at all levels. The lives of our people, past and present are intertwined with mining.

Multiple organizations offer information on their websites.  Any of the following links can help you as you venture to learn more about this magnificent industry, the culture that embraces it, and the bright future that it promises.

Man standing in front of heavy equipment
Woman wearing hard hat

Taconite Mining

taconite miningIron Mining Association of Minnesota

The Iron Mining Association (IMA) of Minnesota promotes a healthy iron ore industry that will continue to benefit northeastern Minnesota as well as the entire state. It's an industry our communities, state and country depend on today and into the future

324 West Superior Street, Suite 502 • Duluth, MN 55802

Email: info@taconite.org • Ph: 218-722-7724 Fax: 218-720-6707

http://www.taconite.org

Taconite Properties in the Central Iron Range Area:

Cliffs Natural Resources:

United Taconite

Hibbing Taconite

 

United States Steel Corporation:

Minnesota Ore Operations - Keetac and Minntac Minn.

 

Essar Steel:

Essar Steel Minnesota

Nonferrous Metal Mining or Copper-Nickel Mining

Mining Minnesota

Jobs for MinnesotansMinnesota is a membership organization committed to sustainable and environmentally responsible critical and strategic metals mining development. Driven by a diverse coalition of organizations, companies and individuals, Mining Minnesota will bring growth and job creation to the state through the responsible development of Minnesota’s natural resources.

http://www.miningminnesota.com

Frank Ongaro, Executive Director

218.393.2301  fongaro@miningminnesota.com

Join and Support Jobs for Minnesotans

Jobs for Minnesotans was co-founded by the Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Council and the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce and represents businesses, middle class workers, labor, local governments and other supporters of job creation in the state of Minnesota.

Jobs for Minnesotans was created to educate and provide information about the direct and ancillary job creation that the strategic metals mining can produce for the state.

Minnesota has the opportunity to gain thousands of jobs for generations of Minnesotans by safely extracting strategic minerals from one of the world’s largest known, untapped sources of copper, nickel, platinum, palladium, cobalt and gold located in northeastern Minnesota’s Duluth Complex.

Mineland Reclamation

The Laurentian Vision Partnership

During the last decade, the Laurentian Vision Partnership has been working with mining, government, business and community interests on the Mesabi Iron Range to demonstrate how the mining process can create land forms to accommodate the residents, the environment, and the economy of this region’s promising future. Through participation in the Laurentian Vision Partnership, a diverse group of stakeholders will have a voice in designing the future landscape of the Iron Range.

The Laurentian Vision Partnership is a regional coalition that promotes the development of productive post-mining landscapes on the Mesabi Iron Range by cooperating in:

Jim Plummer
Laurentian Vision Partnership Coordinator
218.735.3032
jim.plummer@state.mn.us
http://www.lvpmn.org/

SME Minnesota Section

The Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration, Minnesota Section is

  • The world's largest society of minerals professionals.
  • Advances the worldwide mining and minerals community through information exchange and professional development.
  • Will strive to advance the mining and minerals community in their Section.

For more information, please visit http://www.mnsme.org/. For more information on the Northern MN subsection, please visit http://www.northernmnsme.org/.

"The Iron Range - The times they are a changin'..." is a 16-page special section that tells the story of how mining has become a highly technical industry and details the success of local world-class vendors and manufacturers that produce goods and services for the region, state and nation. Development of the region's talent pipeline and a highly-successful Iron Range customer engagement industry are also highlighted.

Produced by Twin Cities Business, the section was released May 22, 2017 in Twin Cities Business and was released May 28, 2017 in the Duluth News Tribune.

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