U.S. Steel shutting down Keetac plant on Iron Range

Pioneer Press ^ | 3-14-15 | John Myers

[TurboZamboni]

U.S. Steel announced Thursday that it will idle its Keetac taconite iron ore operations starting May 13, another victim of the huge glut of global iron ore and steel that's far outpacing demand. The company said up to 412 workers at the facility will be affected and that they are being notified. Some employees will be kept on to maintain the operations, so the exact number of layoffs hasn't yet been determined, the company said. Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel said the Keewatin, Minn., plant will be idled indefinitely "due to the company's current inventory levels and ongoing adjustment of its steelmaking operations throughout North America to match customer demand." "These ongoing operational adjustments are a result of challenging market conditions that reflect the cyclical nature of the industry," the company said in a statement Thursday. "Global influences in the market, including a high level of imports, unfairly traded products and reduced steel prices, continue to have an impact." "I am deeply concerned about iron mining in Minnesota, and we have been trying to ring that bell here in St. Paul for years and it's fallen on deaf ears," Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook, said Thursday. He hammered Minnesota regulations, high energy costs and the global market for harming mining on the Iron Range.

[miliantnutcase]

Brazil and Australia are flooding the iron ore market. It’s sad because these MN iron ranges helped us win WW2. At least they will keep it idle if needed...

[TurboZamboni]

http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_27513096/us-steel-says-new-minnesota-environmental-standards-too

Dayton and his eco-nutter trustfund friends can claim another victory.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Six million tons off line means fewer steamship trips from Two Harbors down to Gary. Parked boats, reduced employment for mariners, steel mill workers, etc.

[henkster]

It’s not so much of an ore issue as a steel issue. All of that Brazilian and Australian ore is being dumped into Chinese furnaces. They increased their annual output to over 750 million tons, with a target of one billion tons of steel annually.

[prisoner6]

boatnerd.com covers the Great Lakes shipping statistics in it’s news section. After a few poor years because of low water levels and other factors last year wasn’t all that bad IIRC. This year was supposed to be good but I doubt it.

[Din Maker]

This is in Minnesota. No sympathy here for the people of that Marxist State. Let all of them lose their jobs, homes and cars. I don’t shive a git.

[A Navy Vet]

Supply and demand. Sorry for those losing their jobs. I lost an entire small company (30 employees) because a large deep-pocket corporation underbid our services. That's how it works and although saddened, I was okay with the process.

Guess what? I re-invested my profits from that company and opened another small one and then another one and wound up employing some 50 people who didn't have jobs.

Isn't capitalism/free enterprise wonderful? The opportunities are endless UNTIL the Fed, State and Municipalities get in the way with their feel-good regulations and laws.

We were once the standard that so many nations prospered from. Yeah...so dangling participle or whatever. You get the point. Screw socialists and communists and any totalitarian.

[hondact200]

Northern Minnesota will look like Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in a brief period of time - desolate, empty buildings, homes and just towns going to rack and ruin. Great! /s

[George from New England]

This has to rank somewhat high as a military strategic concern. Pretty sure if we had true patriots running the defense dept. there would be some funding directed to keep this domestic steel site open.

[Olog-hai]

. . . until a foreign-owned company offers to buy them.

[Alberta's Child]

Maybe not. From what I’m hearing, the strongest long-term potential for northern Minnesota is in precious metals. It’s a far more complicated process because the ore veins are so deep under the surface, but there could be an enormous windfall under the ground up there in the north country.

[Balding_Eagle]

Foreign competition is the least of the worries here.

It’s my estimation that the big problems, and probably in order of magnitude;

EPA
OSHA
Unions
MN taxes and regulations.

Those are nearly insurmountable without a change in government.

[Maine Mariner]

And as the paper mills have been closing in Maine over the past few years, we are seeing the same thing: empty building,
for sale signs on homes, and so forth

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I'd lost track of boatnerd.
I checked it out and found a pix of my old fueling tanker, Reiss Marine, now renamed and residing in Mexico.

[Valin]

I have an idea...Why don't you go F yourself.

[Din Maker]

Bite me punk!

[mplsconservative]

I echo Valin’s statement, and though he in no way needs me to watch his back, go F yourself indeed.

This is a conservative website, for conservatives no matter where we may live. You need to rethink your insulting way of talking to people.

[Din Maker]

He told me to go F myself. So, go preach your sermon to him. He started it.

[Din Maker]

Telling me to go F myself isn’t insulting? I make no apologies for not bending over for him and letting him get away with what he said. And if you don’t like it.... I don’t shive a git.