Iron Mining Process Minnesota Iron
Iron Mining Process. From blasting to crushing to separation – more than 85% of the iron mined in the United States is mined in northeastern Minnesota to make our nation''s steel. Blasting Taconite is a very hard rock. Using explosives, the taconite is blasted into small pieces. Transportation The taconite pieces are scooped up by electric shovels. Each shovel can hold up to 85 tons of rock