Taconite | EROS
Taconite. The mines on the Mesabi Range historically extracted hematite, a rusty-red gravel-like ore. Hematite contained 50–70% iron and could be dug out of the ground and shipped right out to be made into steel. From 1890 to about 1980, 2.5 billion tons of this ore was mined here, but these "natural ores" were largely depleted by the 1980s.
