29 April 2009Magnetation founder honored at Labovitz awards
Larry Lehtinen, Magnetation, Inc., chief executive officer and chairman of the board, received the Entrepreneurial Achievement award at the Tuesday, April 21, 2009, Joel Labovitz Entrepreneurial Success Awards at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center.
The award is presented to individuals who have contributed to growing the economy of the region. Magnetation is a new corporation based in Nashwauk, Minnesota that through a proprietary process produces high purity hematite concentrate from natural iron ore tailing basins. The basins will then be turned into wetlands.
Magnetation operates a production facility near Keewatin that employs 26 and is capable of producing 250,000 metric tons of highly pure hematite concentrate per year. Additional employees will be hired as the company ramps-up production.
Lehtinen, who grew up in Palo and later became an iron ore mining executive, helped take Magnetation from a concept to a commercial reality in one year.
Iron Range Resources and the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development assisted in financing the project.
Lehtinen also took the lead role in the research and development of an iron nugget pilot plant at Northshore Mining Company in Silver Bay, which led to construction of a $260 million Mesabi Nugget commercial demonstration plant near Hoyt Lakes. The Mesabi Nugget plant, being built by Steel Dynamics, Inc. and Kobe Steel, is scheduled to begin producing iron nuggets in the third quarter of 2009 with 65 employees.
