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Published February 08, 2009, 12:00 AM

Photo Gallery: Mining at Cliffs Natural Resources

Images from a tour of a Cliffs Natural Resources mining site near Hibbing, MN.


Water is removed from the iron ore concentrate on vacuum disc filters in the pellet plant of Cliffs Natural Resources in Hibbing, Minn. After the water is removed, the concentrate is combined with a clay binder and then transported on conveyor belts to the balling drum where is shaped into little balls. Then they are sent to the furnace to harden. (Amanda Hansmeyer / News Tribune)

  • Water is removed from the iron ore concentrate on vacuum disc filters in the pellet plant of Cliffs Natural Resources in Hibbing, Minn. After the water is removed, the concentrate is combined with a clay binder and then transported on conveyor belts to the balling drum where is shaped into little balls. Then they are sent to the furnace to harden. (Amanda Hansmeyer / News Tribune)
  • Unfired balls of iron oar pellets are screened and then head to one of the three furnaces to be hardened at 2350 degrees. (Amanda Hansmeyer / News Tribune)
  • The Cliffs Natural Resources mine in Hibbing, Minn., is currently operating at two-thirds capacity. Cliffs Natural Resources mines taconite and produces iron oar pellets. (Amanda Hansmeyer / News Tribune)
  • Smoke and taconite fill the air during a blast at Cliffs Natural Resources in Hibbing, Minn., Wednesday. Two-hundred, fifty drill holes held the ammonium nitrate that exploded when triggered for this blast. (Amanda Hansmeyer / News Tribune)
  • Cliffs is part-owner and manager of Hibbing Taconite and owns and operates North Shore Mining in Silver Bay-Babbitt and United Taconite in Eveleth. It also owns mines in Michigan and Canada. (2009 file / News Tribune)
  • Haulers have the right-of-way over regular-sized trucks at Cliffs Natural Resources in Hibbing, Minn. They haul mined taconite to the crushers. (Amanda Hansmeyer / News Tribune)
  • Shovel operator Matt Scorich of Buhl, operates Cliffs Natural Resources' largest shovel, as he dumps surface into a hauler truck at the mine in Hibbing, Minn., Wednesday. (Amanda Hansmeyer / News Tribune)
  • Crude taconite is transported by a hauler truck at Cliffs Natural Resources in Hibbing. News Tribune file
  • Taconite is dumped into one of the crushers at Cliffs Natural Resources in Hibbing, Minn., Wednesday. (Amanda Hansmeyer / News Tribune)
  • Senior Section Manager Bob Bolf, talks about a front end loader that is in the mine's maintenance shop for repair, during a tour of Cliffs Natural Resources in Hibbing, Minn. (Amanda Hansmeyer / News Tribune)
  • Dispatcher Ike Nelson of Calumet, Minn., explains the computer system he uses in the pit, on a tour of Cliffs Natural Resources. (Amanda Hansmeyer / News Tribune)
  • These autogenous mills ground the taconite into a fine powder before it is combined with water and sent though a magnetic separator to separate out the magnetite at Cliffs Natural Resources in Hibbing, Minn., Wednesday. (Amanda Hansmeyer / News Tribune)