Palmer, MI: Cleveland-Cliffs Tilden and Empire Mines

Tilden: (Satellite)

Empire: (Satellite, it was idled in 2016)

Circle Michigan posted
The Empire Mine in Palmer of the Upper Peninsula is big and deep. It spans a mile across and plunges more than 1,200 feet down.
[293 comments so I didn't read them.]
James Torgeson shared
Cleveland-Cliffs closed the Empire Mine in mid-2016. Its closure left the Tilden Mine as the last active property on the Marquette Iron Range.
Frank Koch

when you realize how many iron ore mines are located inside Brazil, you understand why ships filled with steel slabs and billets are exported from there. zoom in on Google satellite views or google earth for a better understanding https://www.google.com/.../@-20.1877928.../data=!3m1!1e3...

Michael R Valentine

Frank Koch And the quality of the ore itself is remarkable!

q4cdn
Tilden Mine
Pellets are transported by the Lake Superior & Ishpeming railroad from their Marquette, MI, dock. The annual rated capacity of Tilden is 8.0 million gross tons of pellets and they used most of that in 2018 when they produced 7.7 million tons.

Bing Maps via Natural Resources Department

Type of Mine: open-pits; Tilden is 2 miles long by 1/2 mile wide and Empire is 1 mile across and 1,200 feet deep.

Production life: Empire has been in operation since the 1964 and shut down in August 2016 (remediation has not yet started). Tilden has operated since 1989 and may continue operations for another 30 years.

Technically, Empire is not closed. It was put on "indefinite idle" in Aug 2016. It had a capacity of 5.5 million long tons. "Cliffs is finalizing its studies to bring back Empire." But its proven resources is 8.6 million long tons, which is less than two years of production. [MiningDataOnline] It may not be closed, but judging from the satellite map, the pumps were turned off.

Tilden's pit:

msu
Source:  Photograph by Randy Schaetzl, Professor of Geography - Michigan State University
"Entering the 1990s, this pit had reserves capable of producing over 300 million tons of pellets." The raw ore consists of 25-40% iron by weight. Limestone is added to the concentrated ore when making the pellets. That is why we don't see piles of limestone at steel mills. The limestone that is needed by the blast furnaces has already been added to the pellets that are shipped in from the mines. Unlike the Mesabi Range of Minnesota that has taconite ore, the Marquette Range has Magnetite and Hematite ores. So they ship "processed iron ore" pellets instead of "taconite" pellets.
[This msu web page has photos of the processing machinery as well as the shovels and trucks used for mining.]
This source has different information for capacities and shipment to steel mills: "The Empire Mine, in the Marquette Range, has an annual capacity of 8.0 million tons.  Most of its production goes to boats through Escanaba to steel mills in the Chicago area.  By way of comparison, its neighbor the Tilden Mine has a capacity of 7.8 million tons and most of its tonnage goes through the Marquette dock mainly to the Algoma Steel Plant in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario."

Are the "rusty lakes" abandoned pits?

Satellite

Mark Andersen
WC 7514-7504 with empty ore train at the Empire Mine in October 2005 or 2006.

Mark Anderson posted
WC 7504 loading ore train at the Empire Mine in 2005 or 2006.