20 February 2009February 18, 2009 Board Meeting
Three Taconite Economic Development Fund grants to Iron Range taconite producers were approved at Wednesday’s February 18, 2009 Iron Range Resources Board meeting at the State Office Building in St. Paul.
Hibbing Taconite received $1,577,128 for optical furnace burner control cameras, dust control projects, an elevator upgrade and the purchase of 25 new furnace pellet car assemblies. Northshore Mining Company was awarded $1,158,455 for a new dust collector system and the reactivation of a concentrator line that would provide concentrate to the Mesabi Nugget iron nugget facility near Aurora and Hoyt Lakes. United Taconite received $1,252,023 for a coarse crusher dust collection system.
The grants come from a fund which rebates a portion of the Taconite Production Tax paid by mining companies for workforce development and associated public facility improvement, or for acquisition of plant and stationary mining equipment and facilities for the producer or for research and development in Minnesota on new mining, taconite, iron, or steel production technology. Taconite producers currently must provide a match of approximately 25 percent.
In a reorganization of the Iron Range Resources Board for 2009-2010, Senator David Tomassoni of Chisholm was elected chairman of the board and Representative Loren Solberg of Grand Rapids vice chairman.