CHISHOLM, Minn., July 31 - Most Wednesday mornings around 11 o'clock, windows here shake as the sound of a giant explosion echoes from several miles away. Each explosion blasts loose about one million tons of taconite, a mineral rich in iron ore, at a nearby mine.þþFor years, these explosions have served as a kind of reassurance to people here. Chisholm is in the heart of Minnesota's Iron Range, which has some of the richest iron deposits in the world, and mining is as much a part of life here as breathing.þþThe prospect of a labor strike against Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., which operates the mine where the Wednesday explosions are set off, hung over Chisholm for much of the spring and early summer. But in a rare victory for workers in the shrinking steel industry, labor and management reached agreement in late July on a contract the union regarded as favorable. It covers about 2,000 workers in four mines, two on the Iron Range and two in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. þþAs the Aug. 1 contract deadline approached, Cleveland-Cliffs did something no mining company here had done for many years. It placed an advertisement in the local paper announcing that it would hire replacement workers to keep the mines operating. To emphasize its seriousness, Cleveland-Cliffs moved trailers into the workers' parking lot and said they would be used to house the replacement workers. The threat touched a nerve. þþBesides being the heart of the American iron-mining industry, the Iron Range is a historic center of the American labor movement. Every stage of union-management relations in this turbulent industry, including bloody strikes in which workers were killed, organizing campaigns led by the left-wing Industrial Workers of the World and the signing of contracts that allowed miners to rise into middle-class life, has been played out here. þþÿPeople on the Iron Range are intensely aware of their heritage,ÿ said Marvin G. Lamppa, a local historian and author of a new book, ÿMinnesota's Iron Country: Rich Ore, Rich Lives,ÿ published by Lake Superior Port Cities Press. ÿThey look down on strikebreakers as the lowliest of the low.þþÿYou could say that the union militancy out here is a throwback, frozen in time. But whatever it is, it's very real. When the company declares war, the workers are ready to resist. Many of them saw the placement of those trailers as a sign that war might be coming.ÿþþUnion members were pleasantly surprised when management compromised with the United Steelworkers of America a few days before the deadline. Their negotiators will unveil details of the new contract in a series of meetings, and a ratification vote is expected before the end of August. þþWith most miners making $17 to $22 an hour, wages were not a major issue. Union members were more concerned with maintaining their pension and health benefits. þþAlthough the workers were happy to hear news of the settlement, some remain bitter about the company's threat to keep the mine running in the event of a strike. þþÿThey kind of threw it in our face by putting those trailers right in the middle of the parking lot,ÿ said Dave Myrum, who helps operate the mine's grinding mill. ÿA lot of us didn't think that was a real friendly thing to do.ÿþþJohn S. Brinzo, chairman and chief executive of Cleveland-Cliffs, said the new contract was ÿfair to our employees, while allowing the company to maintain a competitive position within our industry.ÿ þþCleveland-Cliffs is the largest producer of iron ore pellets in North America, and the day after reaching an agreement with labor negotiators, it announced a record profit for the second quarter, $32.8 million. That was a sharp reversal from last year's second quarter, when it lost $21.2 million.þþAn important reason for the gain is China's rapid growth. In its headlong rush to modernize and industrialize - symbolized by the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing - China has developed a voracious appetite for steel and iron ore.þþÿNo one saw this coming, but everyone is very, very happy about it,ÿ said Bill Williams, who runs mining operations at the Hibbing Taconite mine. þþThe open-pit mine that Mr. Williams oversees spreads over nearly 15 square miles. A century ago, it was part of the richest vein of iron ore ever discovered, with some six inches below the surface. Though the best ore is gone, new technology has allowed mining companies to drill deeper and extract ore from mineral deposits that were once considered worthless.þþÿThere's enough crystallization here for people to go on mining for generations,ÿ Mr. Williams said.þþTaconite that is shaken loose in the giant weekly blasts near Chisholm is loaded onto trucks that carry 240 tons of rock apiece and have 11-foot-tall tires. In a cavernous, dimly lit plant that is filled with enormous grinding machines, the rock is purified, reduced to powder and formed into small pellets. From here it is shipped on trains to a port on Lake Superior, and then on to mills in the Midwest and beyond, where it is mixed with other minerals to make steel.þþChisholm's main street reflects the number of European nations from which the mineworkers' ancestors came. There is a Slovenian fraternal hall, a bakery that makes rich Slovakian walnut rolls and a store that sells Swedish rugs and books of Finnish proverbs (ÿHe is poor who has no soulÿ). The heart of the street beats at the union headquarters.þþThere are also some empty storefronts, and although this would not qualify as a depressed area, it is hardly thriving. Towns like Ely, a short drive from here, have built booming tourist industries and are dotted with restaurants, cafes and boutiques. Chisholm, with a population of about 6,000, has a grittier feel. There are few job opportunities, and it is not hard to understand why many miners' sons and daughters choose to move away.þþÿThe number of people employed in the mines and plants has dropped significantly as recently as the last four years,'' said Frank Ongaro Jr., president of the Iron Mining Association of Minnesota. ÿIn 1999, there were about 6,400 people working in the mines and plants. Today there are about 3,700 - 3,800 tops.''þþOver the last few days, workers have been drifting in and out of union headquarters to ask about the new contract.þþÿWe weren't looking for big increases or anything,'' said Charles Olsen, 57, a third-generation miner, ÿjust some guarantee that our pensions and health care benefits won't be cut. I have confidence in the guys who did the negotiating. It'll be all right.ÿþþThe mining culture seems unlikely to fade any time soon. Geologists from the Minnesota Geological Survey, which is part of the University of Minnesota, announced last Friday that they had found high concentrations of gold in soil samples from an area near Lake Vermillion, 40 miles northeast of here.þþÿThere was a huge gold rush here in the period after the Civil War,ÿ Mr. Lamppa, the Iron Rage historian, said. ÿNobody ever found the mother lode, but a lot of people were convinced and still are convinced that it's out there. This is a place where there are endless riches under the earth.ÿ þþþþ
Source: NY Times
