Need to return call by / at/between and . Signature:

Project No.: 0317.02.005.520 Page 1 of 4

Project Name: DMR2013 CBI?

Yes

No

TELEPHONE CALL RECORD

Incoming

Outgoing

Date: 6/9/15 Time: 4:00 am

pm

Company Name: Cliffs Natural Resources ERG Staff Name: Kimberly Bartell

Contact Name: Brent Ketzenberger Contact Phone Number: (906) 475-3792

General Subject: 2013 DMR Selenium Discharges for Tilden Mine, Ishpeming, MI

TOPICS DISCUSSED AND ACTION TAKEN

On June 9, I called and left a message at the facility (voicemail was for Chris Shear (sp?)). (906) 475-3812

On June 15, Brent Ketzenberger returned my call and left a message. He is the environmental manager for 

Cliffs Mining for Michigan and is reachable at 906-475-3792. I returned his call on June 17 and left a message.

On June 19, I spoke with Mr. Ketzenberger. He stated that the facility’s selenium issues should be ending in the 

near future. The facility’s current permit includes a schedule of compliance for selenium discharges. 

 (Mass balances and ecological studies were completed initially)

 August 2013: feasibility study of treatment options complete

 May 2015: status report on pilot studies for the selected treatment options complete (public document)

 January 2016: report that includes final treatment strategy based on evaluation of pilot studies

 November 2017: implementation complete, facility should be meeting permit limits

The facility has gone through several steps of investigation and taken thousands of samples. They have done 

ecological studies for baseline data and submit annual mass balances to MIDEQ. They have also met with MI 

DEQ on a weekly basis. They have already started construction to meet their compliance schedule of meeting 

5ppm limits from outfall 002A by November 1, 2017.

The mine is very large and the tailings basin is 30,000 acres. The tailings basin is bright red due to the hematite 

production. The water from the tailings basin is sent through a series of clarifiers and then is discharged to 

Goose Lake outfall. The facility has determined that the selenium concentrations are from mining processes and 

moving overburden. They do not have correlations in the data to easily determine what is causing the flux in 

selenium concentrations. The facility believes the flux is a result of the source rock and varies based on which 

area of rock is mined. 

A hematite process is used at the mine, resulting in the red water (hematite particles are very small and do not 

easily settle out). The mine has found concentrations of selenite and selenate. Selenite is easier to treat, while 

selenate is much harder. The facility has looked at many different treatment technologies, including biological 

chemical reactors (horse manure, wood chips, etc.), reverse osmosis, and pH reduction. Details on treatment 

options reviewed can be found in the status report from May 2015. The facility has determined that RO would 

work to treat the selenium, but it is cost prohibitive. Additionally, they have found that the biological chemical 

reactors will not work for their mine. The mine is leaning toward reducing the pH in the tailings basin (from 8-9 

to less than 5), which would allow the selenite to be removed. The mine is currently performing full scale 

testing on pH reduction. If needed, new clarifiers could be implemented that use ferric chloride to remove 

additional selenium. 
Need to return call by / at/between and . Signature:

Cliffs Natural Resources owns two mines that are back to back. The Tilden mine is on the west side and uses 

the Hematite process (red in color). The Empire mine is on the east side and uses the magnetite process (grey in 

color). The Empire mine has a series of settling ponds prior to discharge. Each mine has its own tailings basin.

Per his request, I emailed Brent a summary of the write up for the section for his review. 

Brent: brent.ketzenberger@cliffsnr.com

I also spoke with Jay Parent from MI DEQ in June 2015 about the selenium discharges for the mine, see notes 

below.

On June 11, I called Jay Parent and left a message. 

Email: parentj@michigan.gov

Mr. Parent returned my call on June 11. He stated that selenium discharges have been an issue at the facility and 

the state is working with them to implement a 60 million dollar treatment plan for selenium. The facility 

discharges only part of the year and it can differ from year to year. The discharges are dependent on the amount 

of water that the mine recycles and is directly related to TDS in the water. 

The facility uses fresh water from a reservoir for many operations at the mine, including washing rock. The 

mine uses a low-grade iron deposit to produce iron pellets. The mined ore is about 30% iron. The ore is crushed 

and ground into a paste. Then the iron is separated out and concentrated into about 70% iron in order to make 

iron pellets. The silica (waste rock) goes to the tailing basin. The facility collects water and recycles as much of 

it as possible. In recent years they have been able to recycle more than previous years. As they recycle water, 

the selenium and salt increase in the water over time because no new fresh water is added. Mr. Parent said that 

this can lead to increased selenium discharges over time. The selenium discharges are a site-wide problem at the 

mine. Mr. Parent is compiling the DMR data to send over. See attached email correspondence.

Total pounds of selenium discharged: 

2010: 999 lbs

2011: 1009 lbs

2012: 695 lbs

2013: 717 lbs 
Need to return call by / at/between and . Signature:

Email Communication with MI DEQ for Cliffs Natural Resources

From: Jay Parent <parentj@michigan.gov>

To: Kimberly Bartell

Date: 06/17/15 11:05 AM

Subject: RE: 2013 DMR Clarification for Selenium Discharges

Kimberly,

As part of selenium management Cliffs submits a Selenium Mass Balance to the State. The numbers in the attached spreadsheet are 

from that. Selenium Concentrations are measured weekly at the outfall. This changed from monthly in 2012 and that may be why 

you’re having an issue with the data submitted.

Cliffs is investigating a number of strategies to reduce Selenium in the discharge. Currently a pH reduction project is being

implemented. By manipulating the pH in the tailings basin the hope is to reduce selenium in the discharge by 80 to 90 percent. In 

addition active treatment strategies have been evaluated. 27 different technologies were looked at with 5 progressing to bench scale 

testing and 3 further evaluated with pilot scale testing in the field. The final treatment strategy is still being developed with 

implementation by 2017.

Thanks, hope this helps

Jay Parent, P.E.

Environmental Engineer

MDEQ – WRD, UP District Office

906-236-9611 

From: Kimberly Bartell

To: Jay Parent <parentj@michigan.gov>

Date: 06/11/15 4:15 PM

Subject: 2013 DMR Clarification for Selenium Discharges

Mr. Parent: 

Eastern Research Group, Inc. (ERG) under EPA Contract No. EP-C-12-021, is e-mailing you on EPA's behalf to request clarification 

of 2013 discharge monitoring reports for Tilden Mine in Ishpeming, MI (MI0038369). Some background on what the information is 

used for is below. 

EPA reviews publicly-available DMR data to fulfill its review obligation under Section 304(b) of the Clean Water Act. The CWA 

requires EPA to annually review and, if appropriate, revise its water pollution control technology-based regulations, called "effluent 

limitations guidelines" or "effluent guidelines," that limit the discharge of pollutants to waters of the U.S. from various categories of 

industrial facilities. EPA is currently conducting its 2015 annual review of existing effluent guidelines and potential industrial 

guidelines which may need to be included (see http://www.epa.gov/guide/304m/ for further information). EPA will discuss this review 

and the results in its 2015 Effluent Guidelines Program Plan scheduled for publication in the Federal Register sometime in 2015 or 

2016. As part of the 2015 annual review, EPA is evaluating the data in discharge monitoring reports from 2013 and needs further 

information to complete the review. 

We would like to obtain additional information on the following 2013 discharge data for Tilden Mine. Our records show that the 

values in the table below were discharged from outfall 002. 

Date

Selenium 

Discharge (kg/d) Flow (MGD)

1/31/13 14.2 6.15

2/28/13 12.03 5.7

3/31/13 8.66 4.71

4/30/13 3.609 1.73

5/31/13 7.12 5.49

6/30/13 9.63 3.17
Need to return call by / at/between and . Signature:

7/31/13 14.6 9.1

8/31/13 14.8 4.19

9/30/13 5.65 2.35

10/31/13 0 0

11/30/13 5.44 3.37

12/31/13 12.6 6.7

We appreciate your help in confirming if the data are accurate, or if there are units errors in the DMR data. 

Please call me at (517) 515-1721 if you have any questions. If you would like to speak directly with EPA regarding this request, you 

can contact William F. Swietlik of EPA's Office of Water/Engineering Analysis Division by phone at (202) 566-1129 or by email: 

swietlik.william@epa.gov.

Thank you,

Kimberly

--------------------------------------

Kimberly D. Bartell

Environmental Engineer

Eastern Research Group, Inc.

kimberly.bartell@erg.com

Phone: 517-515-1721