Escanaba Ore Dock

[esky]

yup it was salt. must be going to be a bad winter

[Jon Paul]

Dorothy Ann & Pathfinder are currently (Sunday, July 26 5:15 pm) on Lake Erie, with Escanaba as the destination.

I believe they are delivering a load of salt

[Bookworm]

Dorothy Ann & Pathfinder are currently (Sunday, July 26 5:15 pm) on Lake Erie, with Escanaba as the destination.

[Mr Link]

Today (June 21) Canadian National Railway announced that it will be selling off around 850 miles of "non-core" track in Wisconsin, Michigan and Ontario in the next year or so. No list of lines has been announced yet, but most are speculating that this includes all CN's lines in the Upper Peninsula.

Someone released what are supposedly internal CN documents today that if correct show that CN plans to retain the line from Gladstone to the Soo, as well as the branch north to the iron mines and Baraga. So possibly no change in ownership after all.

[Guest]

Speaking of the CEO of Cliffs, I know this happened awhile ago but it's still funny.
https://www.cnbc.com/video/2018/10/19/m ... -call.html

[Guest]

Cleveland Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves has said that they plan to reopen the mine as some point in the future when the market improves. He indicated that it would take an investment of $600 million in the mine and taconite plant and take three years of digging to reach the ore body.

For now, they are waiting on one of the steel producers to sign a long-term contract with them.

[Northtown Escanaba]

Today (June 21) Canadian National Railway announced that it will be selling off around 850 miles of "non-core" track in Wisconsin, Michigan and Ontario in the next year or so. No list of lines has been announced yet, but most are speculating that this includes all CN's lines in the Upper Peninsula.

In short, the dock at Escanaba may have a new owner soon. Lots of speculation on railfan sites that the Lake Superior and Ishpeming (Cliffs) may try to buy the line from the mines to Escanaba, along with the dock. Some go further and speculate they may try to get the entire main from Escanaba to the Soo so they could have full control of the all rail ore move to Algoma. I personally don't see Cliffs going any further than Escanaba.

Time will tell. Rumors and speculation run rampant on the various railfan sites, just as they do here. All part of the fun of being outside of an industry looking in.

That would be wonderful news for Upper Michigan.
Miners, Railroaders, Ore Dock Workers and Sailors, plus everywhere they spend their money.
"Nort-Town" Esky would be thrilled to have you all back!

[Guest]

This is a dumb question but, is the Empire Mine out of ore or did they shut it down due to lack of demand?

[Mr Link]

Today (June 21) Canadian National Railway announced that it will be selling off around 850 miles of "non-core" track in Wisconsin, Michigan and Ontario in the next year or so. No list of lines has been announced yet, but most are speculating that this includes all CN's lines in the Upper Peninsula.

In short, the dock at Escanaba may have a new owner soon. Lots of speculation on railfan sites that the Lake Superior and Ishpeming (Cliffs) may try to buy the line from the mines to Escanaba, along with the dock. Some go further and speculate they may try to get the entire main from Escanaba to the Soo so they could have full control of the all rail ore move to Algoma. I personally don't see Cliffs going any further than Escanaba.

Time will tell. Rumors and speculation run rampant on the various railfan sites, just as they do here. All part of the fun of being outside of an industry looking in.

[garbear]

Thanks for the information on the reserves. Now it makes sense to me. Thanks again.

[JFB]

Reserve estimates are based on projected ore prices, higher prices will create more reserves as more money can be spent to extract the ore.
Improved technology also helps.

[Guest]

There are undoubtedly more taconite reserves that have not been developed. Those will take agreements and various permits from the states of Michigan and Minnesota and that's if they are economically viable. The thicker the overburden the higher the extraction cost. And often the existing facilities to crush and create the taconite pellets will require significant capital investment.

Erie Mining is an example where the costs for extraction were too high and major re-investment was required in existing facilities.

[garbear]

Tilden: 290 million tons. Depletion in 2040

Empire: 29 million tons. Closed

Keetac and Minntac: 680 million tons. Depletion in 2047

Northshore: no reserve estimate given. Depletion 2070

Hibbing: 180 million tons. Depletion 2025

United Taconite: 110 million tons (?). Depletion 2029

Numbers come as a surprise. I'd heard a couple yrs. ago there were hundreds of yrs. reserve on the MN Iron Range.

[Guest]

The reserve estimates are from a 2006 presentation that a USGS researcher presented at a Iron Ore Association meeting.

Remember that these are estimates. For example, Empire mine reserves were thought to reach exhaustion by 2008, but instead lasted until 2018.

Here is the pdf document: https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2006/1061/2006-1061.pdf

[Guest]

Tilden: 290 million tons. Depletion in 2040

Empire: 29 million tons. Closed

Keetac and Minntac: 680 million tons. Depletion in 2047

Northshore: no reserve estimate given. Depletion 2070

Hibbing: 180 million tons. Depletion 2025

United Taconite: 110 million tons (?). Depletion 2029

From looking at these figures there will be significant reduction in iron ore shipments in the next 20-30 years.

[Guest]

Tilden: 290 million tons. Depletion in 2040

Empire: 29 million tons. Closed

Keetac and Minntac: 680 million tons. Depletion in 2047

Northshore: no reserve estimate given. Depletion 2070

Hibbing: 180 million tons. Depletion 2025

United Taconite: 110 million tons (?). Depletion 2029

[Guest]

I found a pdf document from the USGS that was part of a presentation for the Iron Ore Association back in 2006.

(The link will take you to the pdf document for downloading.)

https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2006/1061/

On page 48 of the document it lists the reserves and exhaustion date of those reserves. I'll add this information to the Iron Ore Mines map that is on the website.

-Brian

[Guest]

The iron ore range runs from western delta county in the south Marquette county in the north of the UP, northwest through Wisconsin to Minnesota and there is still quality product to be mined

The question was how much is there left in ore reserves, millions of tons left to mine.

[Woodtick]

The iron ore range runs from western delta county in the south Marquette county in the north of the UP, northwest through Wisconsin to Minnesota and there is still quality product to be mined

[garbear]

Of course Escanaba's gain could be Marquette's loss.

I thought I read somewhere back in the 1990s that ore shipments out of Marquette were expected to end somewhere in the 2020s due to the mines running out of ore. Maybe this old man is thinking of something else.

It would be interesting to know the ore reserves here on the Iron Range and the U.P. I've looked for quite a while, but no luck.