Hull-Rust-Mahoning Open Pit Iron Mine

 open-pit mine, iron mine

The Hull-Rust-Mahoning Mine in Hibbing, Minnesota, is one of the largest open pit iron mines in the world. The mine, located in the Mesabi Range, supplied as much as one-fourth of all the iron ore mined in the United States during its peak production during World War I and World War II.
The Hull Rust Mahoning open pit mine has been continuously mined since 1895 and is still growing. Presently over 810,000,000 tons of Iron ore and more then 590,000,000 tons of waste rock have been removed from this miniature Grand Canyon of the North. That's 1.4 Billion tons!! It is over 3.5 miles long, 2 miles wide and 535 feet deep and counting.

Is it the largest man made hole in the world? Mines from around the globe claim this mantel but none have the tonnage and the history of this mine.

Hibbing Taconite is still mining this gargantuan hole in the earth and there is yet decades worth of recoverable iron. Hibbing Taconite presently ships 8.2 million tons of taconite ore a year to markets around the world.

This incredible site can be viewed daily from the Hull Rust Mahoning Mine View in North Hibbing. Just past the Greyhound Bus Museum!

Hayes, Brian: "Infrastructure: A field Guide to the Industrial Landscape. New York, W.W.Norton, 2005. p.18.

www.cliffsnaturalresources.com/Operations/NAIO/Pages/Hi...

Hibbing Taconite is currently owned by ArcelorMittal Steel (62.3%), US Steel (14.7%) and Cliffs Natural Resources (23%)