Mining

9 photos · 2015–2026

9 photographs tagged Mining, 2015–2026.

Aerial view of PolyMet mine in Hoyt Lakes, Minnesota, showing open water-filled pits, mining infrastructure, and industrial — The PolyMet mine site in Hoyt Lakes, Minnesota, includes open pits, haul roads, spoil piles, and water-filled excavations in the Erie Basin area. Red industrial buildings and equipment are visible across the reclaimed and active mining property.

LTV Steel Mining Company sign along a gravel road in Babbitt, Minnesota. — The LTV Steel Mining Company sign stands along a gravel road in Babbitt, Minnesota. The sign marks the entrance to the former mining complex on the Iron Range.

PolyMet Mining NorthMet Project sign along a road in Minnesota's Iron Range. — A roadside sign for the PolyMet Mining NorthMet Project stands along a paved road in the Iron Range of northern Minnesota. The weathered sign also names Cliffs Erie LLC, and a small speed limit sign is posted farther down the road.

Cliffs Erie mine gate near Babbitt, Minnesota, with a private property no trespassing sign. — Cliffs Erie mine gate near Babbitt, Minnesota, marks a restricted access point to company mining property. The sign identifies the site as property of Cliffs Erie LLC and warns against trespassing. Babbitt is located on Minnesota’s Iron Range, a region associated with taconite mining and processing.

Flooded Wacootah Mine pit in Mountain Iron, Minnesota, filled with blue water and surrounded by autumn forest. — The Wacootah Mine was an iron ore pit on Minnesota's Mesabi Range, near Mountain Iron in St. Louis County. Mining operations in the area date to the late 1800s, part of the broader Mesabi Range district that once supplied a large share of the nation's iron ore. Like many exhausted pits on the Range, the former excavation has filled with groundwater, forming a lake within the surrounding second-growth forest. The site sits within the same mining district as the nearby Minntac operation, one of Minnesota's largest active taconite processing plants.

Drilling rig operates in the Hull-Rust-Mahoning Open Pit Iron Mine in Hibbing, Minnesota. — The Hull–Rust–Mahoning Mine near Hibbing, Minnesota, is often called the Grand Canyon of the North for its scale. Mining began here in 1895, and over more than a century of operation the pit grew to roughly three miles long, two miles wide, and 535 feet deep. It has yielded more than 800 million tons of iron ore, much of it feeding steel production during both World Wars. Hibbing Taconite continues processing operations in the district today, and the site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Minnesota Taconite MINNTAC sign in Mountain Iron — Entrance sign at Minnesota Taconite (MINNTAC) in Mountain Iron, Minnesota.

No Trespassing Sign by United States Steel — A No Trespassing sign by United States Steel sign on a fence in Minnesota's Iron Range.

US Steel Corporation, No Trespassing Sign — A No Trespassing sign from US Steel Corporation seen in the Iron Range in Northern Minnesota.

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