Erie Mining Company

Explored! #184 on Friday, January 18, 2008. Thanks! Both the taconite processing plant and the F9 (Covered Wagon) are apparently functional, but unused, near Hoyt Lakes, Minnesota. This photo posted just to make my brother jealous.... We're back from vacation. More tomorrow.

Erie Mining Company, Hoyt Lakes, Minnesota. LTV filed for bankruptcy early in 2001, and this mine kind of stopped in place at that time....

A small piece of LTV's taconite processing plant at Erie Mining Company, Hoyt Lakes, Minnesota. Polymet , a mining company with a fairly large northern Minnesota property, plans to use the plant for processing copper and other non-ferrous ores. Taken during the recent convention of the Missabe Railroad Historical Society.

This is the crusher building at LTV's large open pit mine near Hoyt Lakes, Minnesota--the place goes by a variety of (historical) names, the most recent of which is Cliffs-Erie (Cliffs being the mine's manager; Erie being the mine's name). The Hoyt Lakes plant is the oldest taconite processing plant in existence, dating from the mid-1950s. The processing plant's been optioned to Polymet; the rest of the complex is available.... This photo really doesn't give a proper perspective; that building would be huge in any setting. Taken during a tour with the Missabe Railroad Historical Society.

At the Cliffs-Erie complex, Hoyt Lakes, Minnesota, during last month's convention of the Missabe Railroad Historical Society.

The large buildings at Erie Mine are actually three separate but closely-related plants--an ore crusher, an aggregator which separates the iron from the waste rock, and a taconite pellet plant which packages the ore into the pellets that the steel mill furnaces expect. Near Hoyt Lakes, Minnesota. Taken on a tour with the Missabe Railroad Historical Society.

Part of a work train parked on the edge of Erie Mine, Hoyt Lakes, Minnesota. Taken an a tour with the Missabe Railroad Historical Society. Didn't deliberately overexpose this one--in bright light, framing a photo with the F10 is guesswork, and exposure's pretty much outside your control--but it came out nicely....

Near Hoyt Lakes, Minnesota. Looks like they could easily put the mine back into production, but that's likely an oversimplification. Taken on an excursion with the Missabe Railroad Historical Society.

I'm playing with Aperture, and with Connected Flow's FlickrExport add-in to the product.... Taken at Cliffs-Erie (Erie Mine), Hoyt Lakes, Minnesota, in August of 2006. Part of an excursion with the Missabe Railroad Historical Society. Explored! #417 on Sunday, July 29, 2007. Thanks!