Last edited Mon Feb 20, 2012, 09:20 PM - Edit history (1)
Before "Gobegic Taconite" came along with their colorful and glossy brochures -- having re-invented iron
mining as we know it -- to proclaim the immediate, spectacularly profitable and massively 'job creating' iron ore
deposit in Northern Wisconsin, the mining rights to most of that land belonged to U.S. Steel.
U.S. Steel is the company that mined iron ore from the Mesabi range in N. Minnesota, and up in the
Yoo P. for decades and decades. As the country's largest steel producer, U.S. Steel had the rights to
most of the "best" ore deposits in N. Wisconsin, too.
But ever since the best quality (hematite) ore was mined out 50 or 60 years ago -- the "peak" for Iron
mining in that region came decades and decades ago -- it's been mostly all downhill. The declining quality
of ore that's left over has made mining projects a risky, touch-and-go proposition. OK when world prices
and demand were high, but unsustainable when prices fell. Surprisingly -- to many folks -- U.S. Steel
completely shut down and abandoned their Iron Range taconite operations in Minnesota, about ten
years ago. (2001?)
Then prices rebounded, companies changed names, or changed ownership, and some investments in
new technology were made. I found this summary on the web, from the Minneapolis office of the Federal
Reserve, which provides some historical perspective:
http://www.minneapolisfed.org/publications_papers/pub_display.cfm?id=2462
But however quickly prices, interest, and investment have rebounded, in the last few years, the
fact remains that there's a huge -- HUGE -- difference between low-grade (30% iron) taconite ore,
and the higher-grade ore that was mined out during the Truman Administration.
The Gogebic website talks about "new technology."
http://gogebictaconite.com/project.html
If you go to that page, this is the complete inventory of information available,
which describes the scope and value and development proposals for the
mineral resources:
Type of ore body: Iron Oxide
Estimated amount of ore: More than 2 billion tons
Location:
The ore body is a continuation of the Ironwood Iron Formation encountered in Michigan and continues west beyond the City of Mellen in Ashland County. The lease contains a 22-mile-long portion of the ore body. The First Phase of the project will be focusing on a 4 to 5 mile section located east of Mellen.
Life of the mine:
The first phase of mining operations is estimated at 35 years, but the ore body is large enough to sustain a considerably longer life.
Mining Process:
The benefication process to extract the iron from the ore is a mechanical process using water and magnets, not a chemical process like some other mines.
But "more than 2 billion tons" of "iron oxide ore body"
is so spectacularly vague and useless as a description,
that it's laughable. What is "ore body?"
It's like the mining company executives are telling us
they've got a "bag" ('billions of tons or ore') but their
proposal doesn't say what, exactly, is in the bag.
Gold, ferrous or non-ferrous minerals, or maybe some
cute kittens.
That could be an even more important question than that article
293.50 (1) (b) of the proposed legislation wants to define, "Sulfide ore body” ....as a mineral deposit in which nonferrous metals are mixed with sulfide minerals.”
Here's the reason -- low grade taconite (under 30-35 %) DOES NOT allow separation with magnets. There's not enough iron to stick. (At least as
far as my mining engineer friend was able to tell me.)
Which is what the Gogebic overview page says they're planning on using, to avoid
environmental damage......
Huh????
It just doesn't add up. Hematite gone, mostly borderline taconite left --
which doesn't respond well to attempts at magnetic separation?
....That's what the promise of decades and decades of good, family-supporting jobs
is based on?
Somebody needs to go over the details on the mineral sampling/survey
reports very carefully before this gets *any* kind of approval.
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