Frigid weather puts freeze on iron ore pellet production
By Lee Bloomquist for the Mesabi Tribune – February 10, 2025
Frigid weather has factored into the shutdown of iron ore pellet production at two northeastern Minnesota taconite plants.
Hibbing Taconite Co. and Northshore Mining Co. have both halted pellet production due to issues related to sub-zero weather.
Hibbing Taconite’s tailings basin, which supplies water to the facility’s processing plants, froze up due to the cold weather and a change in regulations that affect water depth in the basin, Chris Johnson, United Steelworkers (USW) Local 2705 president said.
A “mountain” of iron ore pellets | ar.inspiredpencil.com
With the tailings basin water level reduced due to regulations, the basin froze, impacting the supply of water that feeds the taconite plant, Johnson said.
“It is what it is,” Johnson said. “They saw it coming and shut down safely.”
Pellet production at the taconite plant was halted Saturday, Johnson said.
“It was expected,” Johnson said. “We’ve come close before. It’s not a bad time because we have a big stockpile of pellets and we’re not in need of pellets.”
Iron ore pellet production is expected to be halted for about 10 more days, Johnson said.
“Hopefully, the forecast will be wrong and it will start warming up,” Johnson said.
There have not been any layoffs, he said.
Work is still underway in the mine and maintenance work at the plant is being performed, Johnson said.
Hibbing Taconite Co. is majority owned and operated by Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.
United States Steel Corp. is minority owner.
Meanwhile, cold weather has also impacted iron ore pellet production at Northshore Mining Co.’s processing plant in Silver Bay, Dan Muhvich, USW Local 1955 president said.
An unused power plant exhaust stack showed cracks, creating the possibility that the stack could fall, Muhvich said.
Iron ore pellets process | ar.inspiredpencil.com
“Apparently the cracking is due to the type of metal used in the 1940s on battleships,” Muhvich said. “And apparently they found out when it gets cold, it gets brittle. With the cold stretch of days we’ve had, it cracked and it was determined to take it down rather than it fall down.”
Pellet production has been down for about two weeks, Muhvich said.
Hopes are that pellet production resumes in about 12 days, he said.
“The good news is nobody has been laid off,” Muhvich said. “With what’s gone with the economy, it’s great for Northshore and Cliffs to work with us on this and make sure people get paychecks. I have to give credit to Northshore Mining. It would have been easy to lay people off, but with the economy the way it is, it’s a good time to take advantage of this and do some clean-up and maintenance work.”
Northshore Mining Co., with a mine near Babbitt and its processing and shipping facility in Silver Bay, is owned and operated by Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.
Cleveland-Cliffs did not reply to an email for comment.
TOP PHOTO: A cold day for iron ore pellet production | inforum.com