Iron Ore/Taconite

• Minnesota produces about 75% of the iron used in the United States.

• Today, this is all mined from the Mesabi range in the Northern portion of the state.

• There are six total operating taconite plants throughout Minnesota

• Iron ore is produced by taconite being mined, crushed, and treated to increase its iron content.  Then, limestone may be added.  Finally, it is compressed into small iron pellets and shipped to steel mills out-of-state.

Environmental Impacts of Mining

• The Minnesota mining and manufacturing companies founded in 1902

• Minnesota’s mining industries employ 7,700 people

• Tanconite industries contribute 1 billion  dollars to Minnesota’s economy

• Enviormental protection is very important to the Minnesota mining industries

• The Minnesota mining  industries make a full design of what their mines will look like for human health reasons.

• They overall just care about the environment and keeping all the people they employ safe

Industrial Minerals

• Clay is used for tiles, brick, and porcelain. Koalin Clay is used to add gloss to paper.

• Silica sand is used to make glass, and silicone.

• Granite and Limestone are used to build homes, buildings, and roads.

Case Study: Open Cut

• the extraction process can be a huge polluter in itself, and destroy much of the natural landscape and ecosystemic functions of an area

  • example—mountaintop removal: mountains and surrounding valleys are flattened by demolishing mountains from the top down in search of coal.

    • Open Cut was a mountain located in Lead, South Dakota which was flattened for mineral extractions

    • left a mile-deep crater in its place

• another devastating impact of local fossil fuel production on the natural landscape is the extraction of oil in North Dakota

  • entire towns have been all but wiped off the map completely in search of oil, with the land left behind almost uninhabitable