United Taconite Fairlane Plant
Large load · 8470 TOWNLINE ROAD, Forbes, MN
United Taconite runs the Fairlane plant near Forbes, Minnesota, south of Eveleth on the Mesabi Iron Range, where the plant produces iron ore pellets. Cleveland-Cliffs owns the operation and holds 100 percent of the mine and its mineral rights. Ore comes from an open-pit mine in Eveleth and moves about 10 miles by rail to the Forbes plant. The company's power arrangements with Minnesota Power were extended for ten years in 2016, and in August 2026 the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency fined the plant for a missed air permit test. The plant is a large electricity user served through a regulated utility arrangement rather than a merchant or contracted tariff.
Overview
The United Taconite mine sits on Minnesota's Mesabi Iron Range in and around Eveleth, and the taconite is mined and then transported by rail to the processing facility in Forbes. The plant crushes ore in stages before the concentrator, which uses rod mills and magnetic separation to produce a magnetite concentrate. That concentrate goes to the on-site pellet plant, and finished pellets leave by rail for a ship-loading port at Duluth, Minnesota. Cleveland-Cliffs owns 100 percent of the mine and leases 100 percent of the mineral rights, so the mining, concentrating and pelletizing steps are all run within one company.
Profile
- Power supply from Minnesota Power
- Minnesota Power, the utility division of ALLETE, provides electric service across a 26,000-square-mile area in northeastern Minnesota. In May 2016 Cliffs announced that it had extended its regulated power arrangements with Minnesota Power for ten years at the United Taconite and Babbitt facilities. The same announcement tied transmission assets at United Taconite and certain land options to agreements that were pending regulatory approval of the sale of Minnesota Power's utility assets. The release says the arrangements gave Cliffs considerable certainty in energy management for these operations.
- Air permit enforcement and coal change
- In October 2024 Minnesota Pollution Control Agency staff found that United Taconite had not verified its particulate matter emissions for the November 2023 test deadline at the Fairlane plant. The state fined the company $22,980, and the company paid the fine and submitted a plan to conduct future performance tests under its air permit. Cleveland-Cliffs disputes the penalty, saying coal combustion on the Line 1 furnace ended in April 2022, more than a year before the testing deadline, so a coal-specific stack test could not be run. The company says its proposed Title V permit language would require stack testing if Line 1 resumes coal use.
Facility
- Activity
- Iron ore pellets
- Industry
- Manufacturing
- Site type
- Facility
- Operating status
- Operating
Related records
Timeline
- May 24, 2016
- Cliffs extends regulated Minnesota Power arrangements for 10 years at United Taconite and Babbitt
Cliffs Announces Agreements with Minnesota Power :: Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (CLF)
- Apr 1, 2022
- Coal combustion on the Line 1 furnace ceases (per company statement, April 2022)
MPCA fines United Taconite $22k for air permit violation
- Aug 24, 2026
- MPCA announces $22,980 fine for missed particulate matter testing at the Fairlane plant
United Taconite fined $23K by MPCA for violating air permit | KAXE