In another blow to Minnesota’s reeling iron ore industry, more layoffs were announced on the Iron Range Wednesday.
Cliffs Natural Resources will be temporarily closing its United Taconite mine in Eveleth and its pellet plant in Forbes. The moves affect 420 employees. The latest news brings the number of layoffs announced this year to more than 1,000.
Eveleth Mayor Bob Vlaisavljevich said he had been nervously awaiting an announcement for weeks, ever since he saw the huge stockpiles of taconite pellets sitting alongside the Duluth harbor, waiting to be shipped to steelmakers.
“It was kind of a scary thought, down by the harbor there. When you see them they’re about a quarter mile long, three or four of them,” he recalled. “A lot of boatloads.”
Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves cited that huge inventory of pellets as one reason the company would idle United Taconite for about six months.