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At the mine, pelletized low-grade taconite iron ore requires more energy and labor than rich hematite. In blast furnaces, however, taconite pellets are much more efficient than hematite. Overall, pellets save energy and labor. Attempts to pelletize hematite have not worked well. Therefore, many hematite mines have closed and miners have relocated to taconite plants. Also, some jobs, capital investments, and pollution have decreased at steel mills while increasing in the sparsely populated mining regions as a result of pelletizing.
Notes
∗This paper is recorded with the Michigan State University Agriculture Experiment Station as journal article number 8756.