Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1917-08-15
.MACN|TuoE:olF' IRON
Y MINING INDUSTRY
Excavations on. |Mssabe Rance
Greater Than Those At
Panama.

0lt0ltI lIloM .lIIVSt al
Panama.
The following authoritative facts
in regard to the iron mining industry
in Minnesota are furnished the Will.
mar Tribune by the courtesy of Edf-
tor Hotaling, of the Mapleton. (Mipn:}
Enterprise, president of the National
Editorial Association, and will prove
interesting to our readers:
The total amount Of stripping
done on the Missabe Range to Janu-
airy LIST, 1915, is 24S,3o1, sS7. cubic
Yards, and the total amount of lean
ore removed-that is, ore which is of
such low grade it cannot be used
now but which the fee holders or
actual owners of property require the
mining companies to remove and pile
in event of some process being devel-
oped thru which it can be made use
full, amounts te-9,546,O1 cubic yards.
In round figures the amount of
stripping done in 1916, was 100000
cubic yards and the amount of lean
ore removed about 100000 cubic
yards, making total of IL ,00O,, 1000
cubic yards Of excavation which, If
added to the. figures already given
would show total excavation on the
Missabe Range to date, of 268,848, 900
cubic yards of material removed.
Since the time Of the beginning of
iron mining on the Missabe Range to
the close of 1916 season, a period of
only "a. years, there has been shipped
approximately 407, 000; 900 tons of iron
ore This would give a total of 675,-
$4,000 tons Of material exoavated
from this ore range alone.
Excavations Greater Than Panama.
The Panama Canal excavations
have always doomed large in the
public mind and the amount of earth
removed by the engineers has al
ways been regarded as the most 81
gantic bit of excavation ever under
taken. The total amount Of earth OK
cavated from Panama will not exceed
ESQ, 900, 900 cubic yards. It will be
seen, therefore, that from the Missabe
range, one of the three iron ranges
enough material has been excavated
fill the Panama Canal excavations
twice and to have almost enough left
over to fill the Canal third time. -
What is perhaps the most import
| ant of the Missabe range iron ore de-
| posits is found ~in--the strip approx
mately IL miles lond and>3-4 of a
mile wide, in the village of Hibbing,
Mimi, and including the famous Ma.
honing, Hull Rust and Sellers open
pit mines. The Mahoning and Hull
Rust mine together make the great.
est iron mine in the world. From the
Hull Rust, 23yO00,000 tons Of material
was stripped before any iron ore was
mined. The total production of ore
from this mine to date has been g.
100000 tons In 1916, 7,665,00O tons
were taken from the Hull Rust mine
FROM the Mahoning section Of this
mine from eight to ten million tons
of material was excavated before ore
was uncovered Approximately a.,
100000 tons of ore have been tax
en- from the mine since it was open.
ed. In 1916 the Mahoning production
was 2, 215,0o0 tons.
Enormous Stripping Cost.
Some idea of the cost of stripping
can be gained from bulletin from
the Minnesota School of Mines, Elk
pertinent Station, prepared by
The prices given in Mr.. Van Barne
title of, "Iron Mining in Minnesota
The prices given in Mr.. Van Barne
YIELDS bulletin are of the costs in 1912
He states that "Stripping costs vary
from 40c to 12c yard, according to
the size of the job, the operating
conditions and the equipment used
Contract prices vary from 25c to 32c
a yard under contracts of 100000
yards or over, 40 acre
contract would require stripping tc
the depth of 100 feet-or l IL to 1 81
million dollar stripping investment
with perhaps three years to complete
it in.
The annual interest charge on this
alone would be 100000. If this is
charged against eight million tons OF
ore. to be mined at the rate of q
million tons a year, the stripping
charge against the ore would be
3Oc per ton Of ore to which must
be added the cost of mining
It may be said that
the cost of open pit ore on the cars
including local charges, but excluding
royalty, taxes and extraneous over
head charges may vary from Is to
Use a ton under extremely favorable
and unfavorable conditions respect.
lively: It may be said that
the average cost of open pit ore in the
Central Missabe would fall within
4Oc on the cars under ordinary, and