https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/
Xcel Energy recently made headlines by announcing it wished to close down its coal-fired power plants 10 years before they were previously scheduled to retire.
However, it would be nothing short of a disaster for Minnesota’s mining industry, both present and future, if Minnesota Power pursued a similar path by closing the coal-fired Boswell Energy Center at a time when China and India are greatly expanding their use of coal.
Mining requires an enormous amount of energy. In fact, the MinnTac mine in Mountain Iron reportedly uses more electricity and natural gas than the entire city of Minneapolis, and only the coal-fired Boswell Energy Center can provide the affordable, reliable, around-the-clock electricity needed to keep Minnesota mines competitive in a global marketplace.
This is crucially important, because although Minnesota produces approximately 75% of the iron ore mined in the United States, this accounts for only 2% of global iron ore production. In contrast, data from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) show China and India account for 13.6% and 8% of global iron ore production, respectively.
Electricity constitutes about 25% of the cost of iron produced in Minnesota; and due to Minnesota’s relatively small market share, any increase in the cost of energy hurts the ability of our Minnesota mines to compete with countries using low-cost coal.
For the rest of this column: https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/opinion/columns/4664759-Statewide-View-Column-Closing-down-coal-gives-China%E2%80%99s-India%E2%80%99s-iron-industries-an-edge