The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Citizens Board unanimously approved US Steel Corporation's water quality permits for a $300 million expansion of its taconite iron ore mine in Keewatin, an iron range town. The expansion would boost iron ore pellet production at the plant to 9.6 million tons--a 50 percent increase.
While the permits bring US Steel one step closer to moving forward with the expansion, the steelmaker still needs to receive its wetlands permit from the US Army Corps of Engineers before it can move forward.