Above: The loading apron formerly used by the Chief Wawatam at St. Ignace, MI collapsed into a jumbled heap at approximately 3:00 a.m. on August 3, 2011. St.
Ignace city officials and other interested parties are deliberating whether or not to restore the structure—Doug Taylor. Inset: The loading apron in better times,
April 1978. At the time, the Chief Wawatam was the connection between the Soo Line and the Detroit and Mackinac Railway across the Straits of Mackinac—photo
by Thomas J. Post, SLHTS Archives collection.
New Taconite Plant Proposed
for Penokee Range
Duluth News Tribune
April 18, 2011
O
ne of the largest private investments in Wisconsin history -- and
the largest new taconite iron ore plant
in the U.S. in more than 40 years -would transform the region’s economy.
That’s the finding of a newly released
economic impact study funded by Gogebic Taconite LLC on its proposed $1.5
billion taconite mine and processing
plant proposed for a remote area along
the border of Ashland and Iron counties.
The plant, which would employ 700
people, with hundreds more transportation and spinoff jobs, would be the
first iron mining operation in northern
Wisconsin since natural iron ore mines
closed in the 1960s.
The new plant, producing 8 million
tons of finished taconite pellets annually, would rival Hibbing Taconite, the
second-largest of Minnesota’s six operating plants.
The study estimates Gogebic would
pump $604 million annually into Wisconsin’s economy, with some $17 million
Spring 2011
in state taxes and jobs that pay $83,000
in combined wages and benefits—all in
an area with high unemployment and
dwindling opportunities in the forest
products industry.
The study, by Madison-based NorthStar Economics, found that 2,834 jobs
would be created in the area once the
project is up and running, which would
make it by far the largest employer and
largest job generator in the area.
The impact would be felt in more
than 12 counties, boosting business for
engineering firms and mining suppliers
in Duluth and Superior and jobs for unemployed workers in Michigan’s Upper
Peninsula, Gogebic’s promoters say.
“This is a game-changer for the region’s economy,” said David Ward, chief
officer of NorthStar.
The open-pit mine would stretch
roughly along four miles of the Penokee Hills, on private land, about 30
miles southeast of Ashland, between
the small towns of Mellen and Upson.
The company said it has options to
ship taconite by rail to Escanaba, MI, to
be shipped on Lake Michigan, or to Superior’s Burlington Northern ore dock,
or even directly by rail to Chicago-area
steel mills. Company officials also are
considering refurbishing the long-idled
Ashland ore dock.
Gogebic mining operations would
cover about 22,000 acres on private
land where mineral rights are held by
LaPointe Iron Co. of Hibbing and RGGS
Land & Minerals Ltd. of Houston.
Gogebic officials said the company
will design the plant so production
could be easily doubled in the future,
which would make it the largest taconite producer in the world. They also
said an iron-making plant might be
considered at the site in the future to
refine taconite pellets into a product
that Wisconsin mills could use for steelmaking. A similar operation, Mesabi
Nugget, already is operating near Hoyt
Lakes.
The company expects to receive permits from the Wisconsin Department
of Natural Resources “any day now”
to drill eight test borings at key sites
across the proposed mine area. Company officials are figuring it will take
two to seven years for environmental
impact statements and permit review.
They’re hoping for the low end of that
scale so they can break ground in 2014
and produce taconite by 2016.
“We realize that’s an ambitious
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