DULUTH — Hibbing Taconite will have enough iron ore to continue mining and pellet operations through 2026 after Minnesota officials approved additional mineral leases Thursday.
The Minnesota Executive Council — chaired by Gov. Tim Walz and made up of the state's constitutional officers — approved new leases totaling 120 acres and amended another lease covering 40 acres.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources recommended the council approve issuing the leases to help extend Hibtac's life.
"There are few mineable reserves of ore remaining at the Hibbing Taconite operation. Issuance of the two new taconite iron ore mining leases will add months, not years, to Hibbing Taconite’s mine life," the DNR wrote in materials provided to the council.
It's long been expected to run out of ore by 2025 unless additional leases are obtained.
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Hibtac employs more than 700 people and is a joint venture between the Iron Range's two iron ore mining companies: Cleveland Cliffs, which manages it and has 85.3% stake in it, and U.S. Steel, which has 14.7% stake.
The leases approved Thursday will provide enough ore for Hibtac to remain open through 2026, Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves said in a statement Thursday afternoon.
Its massive mine pit runs from north of Hibbing to near Keewatin. The new and amended leases are within or adjacent to the existing mine footprint.
"On behalf of our more than 2,000 employees in the state of Minnesota, we would like to thank the Minnesota Executive Council for the approval of the mineral leases that will allow Hibbing Taconite to extend operations another nine months through 2026," Goncalves said.
Cliffs has long wanted those leases. It already has the rights to some minerals there, but it said the state leases are needed to keep Hibtac open for decades.
The leases were freed up in January after a Minnesota Supreme Court upheld the DNR's decision
to terminate Mesabi Metallics control of the leases in May 2021.
"We remain confident that, once we obtain the state leases to add to Nashwauk land already controlled by Cleveland-Cliffs, we will then be able to extend the life of Hibbing Taconite for decades," Goncalves said Thursday.
The DNR is considering "credible miners" for the Nashwauk leases.
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According to the Mesabi Tribune, Cliffs wants all 2,664 acres of Nashwauk leases, while a new Hibbing-based scram mining company, Scranton Holding Co., is seeking several of the same parcels.
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