I recently took a trip to northern Minnesota to learn about a proposal for a plant in Minot that would take iron from “spoil piles” from iron mining, and use that to make steel.
It’s fascinating. The company, North American Iron, had a presentation for the media, explaining that the material would come from Minnesota’s Iron Range – in Hibbing – and would be shipped to Minot.
Why Minot? The company executives explained Minot has great rail service, available land for the facility, and abundant natural gas from the Bakken. And from Minot, the iron could be shipped to steel manufacturing facilities.
North American Iron will create a number of jobs in the region, both for plant construction and operation.
You can read my story about the iron processing plant here.
Taking a nostalgic drive
While driving to Minnesota for this story, I took US 10 east of Moorhead, toward Detroit Lakes. When I was growing up, we would spend time in the summer heading to Big Pine Lake near Perham, where several of my relatives lived.
I didn’t quite get back to Perham on this trip, but I remembered the stops along the way – Dilworth, Hawley, Lake Park, as well as Buffalo River State Park.
