Browsing by Subject "Mesabi Iron Range"
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Item The Economics and Logistics of Transporting Taconite Mining and Processing Byproducts (Aggregate): Minnesota and Beyond(University of Minnesota Duluth, 2007-10) Zanko, Lawrence MEvery year, Minnesota’s taconite mining industry generates over 125 million tons of mining byproducts, a figure that is more than double the entire state’s annual aggregate usage. Since 2000, the Natural Resources Research Institute (NRRI), University of Minnesota, Duluth, has been investigating how these vast quantities of taconite mining byproducts can be used for construction aggregate purposes on an expanded basis. However, if taconite-based aggregate is to be competitive beyond the Mesabi Iron Range, cost-effective rail transport options will be needed, and rail-related economic and logistical barriers must be identified, quantified, and overcome. The reality is, lower value/higher volume commodities like construction aggregates are often economically limited by their distance to market, due to the cost of transportation. Consequently, this study is focusing on rail transport by reviewing/identifying transportation networks, logistics, equipment availability, costs, and potential difficulties associated with moving taconite aggregate through that network. Truck, barge, and Great Lakes shipping are also being addressed. By identifying the key transportation and market-related issues, this study will give potential end-users inside and outside Minnesota a better understanding of how taconite aggregate could be an important alternative to “conventional” aggregate sources. Likewise, taconite producers will have a better understanding of the relative ease or difficulty of marketing and/or moving various types of aggregate, and the potential economic benefit(s) thereof. By improving our understanding of what the supply, demand, and movement dynamics are (and how they interrelate), the prospect for expanded use of taconite aggregate will be enhanced - a development which will ultimately be important for both the economy and the environment, a dual benefit measurable in both a dollars (economic) and tons (resource conservation) sense. This Technical Summary Report describes project activities and progress through October of 2007.Item Geologic Mapping And Structural Analysis Of The Peter Mitchell Mine(University of Minnesota Duluth, 1996-02) Severson, Mark JAt least 17 faults are located within the Peter Mitchell Mine. Most of the faults trend north to north-northeast; four faults trend northwest. The faults are near-vertical, with offsets ranging from <5 feet to >50 feet. Thirteen of the faults display a "scissors-type" offset in that the relative displacement along the length of the fault is more pronounced toward one end of the fault. In 10 faults, the amount of offset increases from north to south toward the Duluth Complex. Three faults exhibit increased amounts of offset away from the Duluth Complex. Collectively, the relative motion along the majority of the faults indicate that they were formed (and reactivated?) during emplacement of the Duluth Complex. Five basaltic dikes occur within the mine area. Only one of the dikes occupies a fault zone; the remainder are intruded along various joint sets. The age of the dikes is inferred to be late-Duluth Complex. Several large-scale folds also occur within the mine area. They trend northwest and diminish in intensity away from the Complex, indicating that folding was initiated during emplacement of the Complex.Item Oxidized Taconite Geological Resources for a Portion of the Western Mesabi Range (West Half of the Arcturus Mine to the East Half of the Canisteo Mine), Itasca County, Minnesota - A GIS-based Resource Analysis for Land-Use Planning(University of Minnesota Duluth, 2001) Zanko, Lawrence M; Severson, Mark J; Oreskovich, Julie A; Heine, John J; Hauck, Steven AItem Pilot-Scale Demonstration of Increasing Iron Recovery from Minnesota Oxidized Iron Resources(University of Minnesota Duluth, 2018-11-05) Mlinar, Matthew A; Petersen, Tom S; Johnson, Rodney C; Spigarelli, Brett PItem Preliminary bedrock geologic map of the Aurora quadrangle, St. Louis County, Minnesota(Minnesota Geological Survey, 1998) Morey, G.B.Preliminary bedrock geologic map of the Aurora quadrangle, scale 1:24,000Item Preliminary bedrock geologic map of the Biwabik quadrangle, St. Louis County, Minnesota(Minnesota Geological Survey, 1996) Morey, G.B.; Cleland, J.M.Preliminary bedrock geologic map of the Biwabik quadrangle, scale 1:24,000Item Preliminary bedrock geologic map of the Bovey quadrangle, Itasca, Minnesota(Minnesota Geological Survey, 1996) Morey, G.B.; Cleland, J.M.Preliminary bedrock geologic map of the Bovey quadrangle, scale 1:24,000Item Preliminary bedrock geologic map of the Buhl quadrangle, St. Louis County, Minnesota(Minnesota Geological Survey, 1998) Morey, G.B.Preliminary bedrock geologic map of the Buhl quadrangle, scale 1:24,000Item Preliminary bedrock geologic map of the Calumet quadrangle, St. Louis County, Minnesota(Minnesota Geological Survey, 1994) Morey, G.B.; Cleland, J.M.; Setterholm, D.R.; Vlasich, K.T.Preliminary bedrock geologic map, scale 1:24,000Item Preliminary bedrock geologic map of the Dewey Lake SE quadrangle, St. Louis County, Minnesota(Minnesota Geological Survey, 1998) Morey, G.B.Preliminary bedrock geologic map of the Dewey Lake SE quadrangle, scale 1:24,000Item Preliminary bedrock geologic map of the Eveleth quadrangle, St. Louis County, Minnesota(Minnesota Geological Survey, 1996) Morey, G.B.; Cleland, J.M.Preliminary bedrock geologic map of the Eveleth quadrangle, scale 1:24,000Item Preliminary bedrock geologic map of the Gilbert quadrangle, St. Louis County, Minnesota(Minnesota Geological Survey, 1996) Morey, G.B.; Cleland, J.M.Preliminary bedrock geologic map of the Gilbert quadrangle, scale 1:24,000Item Preliminary bedrock geologic map of the Kinney quadrangle, St. Louis County, Minnesota(Minnesota Geological Survey, 1998) Morey, G.B.Preliminary bedrock geologic map of the Kinney quadrangle, scale 1:24,000Item Preliminary bedrock geologic map of the McKinley quadrangle, St. Louis County, Minnesota(Minnesota Geological Survey, 1996) Morey, G.B.; Cleland, J.M.Preliminary bedrock geologic map of the McKinley quadrangle, scale 1:24,000Item Preliminary bedrock geologic map of the Pengilly quadrangle, Itasca, Minnesota(Minnesota Geological Survey, 1996) Morey, G.B.; Cleland, J.M.Preliminary bedrock geologic map of the Pengilly quadrangle, scale 1:24,000Item Preliminary bedrock geologic map of the Virginia quadrangle, St. Louis County, Minnesota(Minnesota Geological Survey, 1994) Morey, G.B.; Cleland, J.M.; Welsh, J.L.; Vlasich, K.T.Preliminary bedrock geologic map, scale 1:24,000Item Preliminary Evaluation of Establishing an Underground Taconite Mine, to be Used Later as a Lower Reservoir in a Pumped Hydro Energy Storage Facility, on the Mesabi Iron Range, Minnesota(University of Minnesota Duluth, 2011-02) Severson, Mark JTen sites, with some deep drill hole information, were crudely evaluated for their potential to establish a deep-seated underground taconite mine that would be located to the immediate south of the Mesabi Iron Range. Such a mine would produce a cavern that could be used as a lower reservoir in a Pumped Hydro Energy Storage (PHES) facility that would be connected to a surface reservoir (abandoned water-filled mine or tailings basin) via a mine shaft. The lower reservoir would be excavated from ore that would help to reduce the costs of producing the cavern. Out of the ten evaluated sites, there are four candidates that appear to be the most enticing with regards to establishing an underground mine in areas that would not be mined using conventional open pit methods. These higher priority candidates are: 1. Taconite area – mining of a taconite ore body on the west end of the Mesabi Iron Range could produce a cavern up to up 140 feet high, with a holding capacity of 14 billion gallons (43,200 acre-feet), and a maximum head of 700 feet below the surface; 2. Cliffs-Erie area – mining of metamorphosed high-grade taconite from the eastern Mesabi Iron Range could produce one or two caverns, each up to 90 feet or more high, with a maximum head of 1,235 feet below the surface; 3. Northshore area – mining of metamorphosed high-grade taconite from the eastern Mesabi Iron Range could produce a cavern up to 150 feet high (based on crude data), with holding capacity of 7.8 billion gallons/24,045 acre-feet (based on 150 foot high cavern), and a maximum head of 600 feet below the surface; and 4. Dunka Pit area – mining of metamorphosed high-grade taconite from the eastern Mesabi Iron Range could produce one or two caverns, separated by a fault zone as follows: a) an upper underground cavern/reservoir up to 110 feet high, with a holding capacity of 1.5 billion gallons/4,635 acre-feet (with potential to expand to the south), with a maximum head of 450 feet below the water-filled and abandoned Dunka Pit taconite mine; b) a lower underground reservoir up to 90 feet high, with a holding capacity of 365 million gallons/1,120 acre-feet, with a maximum head of 800 feet below the Dunka Pit taconite mine. While these four sites have sufficient drilling to make preliminary estimates on water holding capacities, more drilling would be needed to fully assess their ore potential. In the event that any of the above four sites are eliminated due to conflicting land uses, any of the other six sites discussed in this report could be chosen for underground mining. These sites are classified as “lower priority” only because detailed drilling to define the full potential of an underground mine is lacking. Out of this lower priority group, the Eveleth area would be the next best candidate. The lowest priority candidates would be the Two River Reservoir area and McKinley area.Item Progress Report pertaining to Stratigraphy and Metamorphism of the Biwabik Iron Formation (as Delinated by Logging some of the RGGS Holes from the) Eastern End of the Mesabi Iron Range, Minnesota(University of Minnesota Duluth, 2012) Severson, Mark JItem Respiratory Diseases And Exposures To Taconite Dust Components(2018-04) Shao, YuanThe primary research question addressed in this work is whether long-term on-site exposure to non-asbestiform EMP contributes to the development of mesothelioma and lung cancer observed in the taconite mines. If so, which EMP exposure metric (what size range of the study EMP) is most associated with the mesothelioma cases among taconite worker population. The dissertation has a total of six main chapters. The first chapter includes a brief history of Minnesota iron mining industry, mining related health concerns, and the resulting Minnesota Taconite Worker Health Study (TWHS) conducted from 2008 to 2013. It summarizes the main findings of this previous study and the new research directions after this study. The primary research hypotheses and four associated specific aims are described. Chapter 2 describes the exposure reconstruction process for historical respirable silica (RS) and respirable dust (RD) exposures of workers in Minnesota taconite industry from 1955-2010 in specific aim 1. This chapter also discusses how the historical dust exposure changed over time in each mine-department combination. Chapter 3 addresses specific aim 2, and describes how the historical EMP exposure levels are predicted using EMP data and the time-trends obtained from specific aim 1. Chapter 4 describes the mathematical modeling approach for deriving numerical conversion factors (CFs) between EMP of different size ranges. This chapter also discusses how these CFs are important in the development of alternative dimension-specific EMP JEMs starting from the existing NIOSH-EMP based JEM developed in specific aim 2. This work addresses specific aim 3. Chapter 5 describes a mesothelioma case-control study conducted using an updated study cohort and new dimension-specific EMP JEMs developed in specific aim 3. The chapter addresses specific aim 4 and provides answers to the primary research question of this dissertation. In the last chapter, I summarize the overall conclusion and propose some future research directions.Item Water Resources in the Vicinity of Municipalities on the Eastern Mesabi Iron Range and the Vermillion Iron Range in Northeastern Minnesota(1962) Cotter, R D; Young, H L; Petri, L R; Prior, C HThis historical document contains assessments of water supply for Aurora, Hoyt Lakes, Babbitt, Tower-Soudan and Ely from fifty years ago. While it does not describe human uses of water resources at the time, it does contain information about aquifers and ground water resources that could potentially be used for industrial, municipal or recreational purposes. "This report describes existing and potential water supplies on the eastern Mesabi and Vermilion Iron Ranges, northeastern Minnesota. Increased supplies of water are needed for expansion and diversification of the economy of the iron ranges. Specifically, supplies are needed for taconite processing, wood and peat processing, and municipal expansion. This investigation made in cooperation with the Minnesota Department of Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation indicates that in some areas large quantities of water are available from both ground and surface sources. The most productive aquifers are the Biwabik Iron-Formation and the stratified glacial drift. East of Colby Lake, the Biwabik is not an important aquifer. On the Vermilion Iron Range, this formation is absent, and the glacial drift is commonly too thin to produce the quantities available on the Mesabi Range. Bodies of stratified drift, believed by the authors to be potential sources for large ground-water supplies, are outlined as numbered areas. Their boundaries are drawn on the basis of topography, geologic mapping, test drilling, and test pumping. The accuracy of the assessment of the ground-water supplies in each numbered area is proportional to the subsurface control. Where adequate pumpage data are available, specific capacities of wells are noted. Multiplying the specific capacity by the maximum allowable drawdown will give the short-term maximum yield of a well. Specific capacities decrease with an increase in time and pumping rate. Specific capacities of wells completed in artesian aquifers should not be compared with those of wells completed in water-table aquifers, because, in otherwise identical aquifers, the value obtained for a well in the artesian aquifer would be much lower. The geologic sections in this report are based on the indicated testhole information and open-pit mine exposures. Identification of glacial deposits from drill cuttings and correlation of deposits between test holes is tenuous. However, the sections show the sequence and general lithology that probably would be penetrated in a drill hole along the line of section. Surface-water supplies in the eastern Mesabi and Vermilion Iron Ranges are good. In the southwestern part of the area of this report, the Embarrass, St. Louis, and Partridge Rivers and Second Creek are good potential supplies. Vermilion Lake is a very large untapped potential supply in the northwest. The eastern part has a network of lakes and river systems available for utilization. Records of flow for eight gauging stations are presented. The quality of ground water and surface water is adequate for many industrial uses. Ground water commonly has a high concentration of iron and manganese and is hard. Surface water commonly has a high concentration of iron and is colored. Analyses of water from many sources are included."