Summary:
Tilden mine
The Tilden iron deposit is an example of a Lake Superior-type BIF deposit.
Tilden is dominated by a 100 m-scale, northwest-plunging incline. The hinge line of the incline dips steeply north, plunges 30°NW, and runs down the center of the Main Pit. The hinge line of the incline is mapped locally coincident with the Keweenawan Dike. The Summit Mountain Sill, locally termed the Pillar Intrusive, defines the asymmetry and orientation of the incline. Smaller faults and folds, on a scale of one meter to 20 m, are observed in the Main Pit to follow trends of larger, regional-scale structures. These structures tend to reflect ductile deformation in the Main Pit, where folds with sheared limbs are common (Lukey et al., 2007).
The primary ore mineral at Tilden is hematite, with other minerals including martite (oxidized pseudomorph of magnetite), goethite, and siderite (iron carbonate mineral), as opposed to strictly magnetite.
At Tilden, the Negaunee IF can be divided into five distinct facies:
• Clastic Iron Formation (IFCL) Units: Varying thickness of interbedded slate with laminated chert, iron silicate, and siderite. Clastics have a lower weight recovery (wtrec) due to the presence of interbedded clastic material. They are highly oxidized in the east side of the Main Pit.
• Carbonaceous Iron Formation (IFCB) Units: Alternating thin layers of magnetite, martite (oxidized pseudomorph of magnetite), iron silicate minerals, iron carbonate minerals and chert. Carbonate material is characterized by the presence of siderite (iron carbonate mineral), low phosphorus, and higher wtrec.
• Martite Iron Formation (IFCH) Units: Thicker beds of hematite-martite-chert with intervals of magnete-carbonate. The oxidation level increases in the east and where proximal to intrusive sills.
• Magnetic Iron Formation Units: Magnetite domain consisting of magnete-carbonate and magnete-silicate-chert with variable oxidation. It is defined principally by magnetite content and is generally fresh, with some localized oxidation. At Tilden, it is found within and defines the (now
expended) material of the CDIII Pit.
• Hematite Iron Formation Units: The oxidized equivalent of the Magnetite Iron Formation prominent in both the Empire deposit and in the east side of the Main Pit, is located stratigraphically above the Summit Mountain Sill. It is dominantly composed of hematite and chert interbeds. At Tilden, this unit has locally very high levels of silica and phosphorus in concentrate (consio2 and conphos, respectively).
United Taconite mine
The Thunderbird Mine North (TBN) and Thunderbird Mine South (TBS) deposits are examples of Lake Superior-type banded iron formation (BIF) deposits.
The Thunderbird deposits are overlain by Pleistocene glacial till, outwash, and lacustrine sediment. Overburden thicknesses average approximately 50 ft; however, thicknesses up to 199 ft have been drilled at TBS. Glacial sediment is generally thinnest on the northern portion of the Property and thickens to the south and west.
Magnetite-bearing taconite is currently the principal iron-bearing rock of economic interest on the property. In line with other Superior-type iron formations, magnetite-bearing intervals within the Biwabik IF occur as laterally extensive, stratiform intervals. Economically mineable magnetite occurs exclusively within granular iron-formation (cherty) units of the Biwabik IF.
Current mining operations exploit stratigraphic units of the Upper Cherty (44% of total mining) and Lower Cherty (56%) members. Mineable crude ore intercepts are generally identified by their thickness, crude ore magnetic iron content (MagFe), and concentrate silica content.
Northshore mine
The Northshore iron deposit is a classic example of the Lake Superior-type BIF deposit.
Magnetite is the principal economic mineral at the Mine and occurs dominantly in thin to thick bands and layers, as medium- to coarse-grained disseminated grains, and as grain aggregates. Magnetic iron content ranges between 22% and 30% in the mineralized stratigraphic subunits within the deposit at the Mine. Local variation in silicate mineralogy and lithologic textures due to contact metamorphism presents unique challenges for grade control relative to deposits hosted in the western Biwabik IF.
Economic mineralization within the mine is hosted entirely within subunits of the Biwabik IF. In the mine area, bedding dips from approximately 5° southeast in the west to 35°southeast near the contact with the Duluth Complex in the east. The entire stratigraphic sequence of the Biwabik IF is present at Northshore, although only subunits of the Upper Cherty member and lesser fractions of adjacent members are mined. The Upper Cherty member averages approximately 160 ft thick, considerably thinner than equivalent stratigraphy in the western Biwabik IF.
Hibbing Taconite mine
The HibTac deposit is an example of Lake Superior-type BIF deposits.
The Biwabik IF at HibTac consists primarily of carbonates, iron silicates, fine-grained quartz, and iron oxides. These layers are visually distinct, locally separated into slaty beds and cherty beds. The ratio of slaty to cherty beds and distance between these beds are key indicators used during logging, as well as bedding style, texture, color, and magnetic strength. Slaty beds are dark gray in nature, consisting primarily of magnetite in mineralized zones, and range from 0.04 in. to upwards of one inch in thickness. Cherty beds range from gray to green in color depending on the ratio of fine-grained quartz (gray color) to iron silicates (green color). These beds vary in thickness to upwards of twelve inches and may or may not contain disseminated magnetite. Carbonates typically occur as granular, re-crystallized grains of varying size and commonly occur in late-stage quartz-carbonate-filled fractures, which run variably (orientation, length, width, continuity) throughout the iron formation. The Upper Slaty and Lower Slaty members are visually distinctive, as they are dominated by slaty beds; however, these beds rarely contain any notable iron oxide content
The taconite ores mined at HibTac are from several locally recognized, informal subunits of the Lower Cherty member. Waste rock units (Lower Slaty and Upper Slaty members) cap the Lower Cherty and Upper Cherty members and are distinctively fissile and weakly magnetic as compared to the ore units.
Minorca mine
The Minorca deposits are examples of Superior-type BIF deposits, specifically the Biwabik Iron Formation (Biwabik IF), which is interpreted to have been deposited in a shallow, tidal marine setting and is characterized as having four main members (from bottom to top): Lower Cherty, Lower Slaty, Upper Cherty, and Upper Slaty. Cherty units generally have a sandy granular texture, are thickly bedded, and are composed of silica and iron oxide minerals. Slaty units are fine grained, thinly bedded, and comprised of iron silicates and iron carbonates, with local chert beds, and they are typically uneconomic. The mineral of economic interest at Minorca is magnetite.