Editing Iron Range (section)

==The Iron Range and its economy==
[[File:Iron Range-20050725.jpg|thumb|Iron ore]]
[[File:Croft Mine Park.jpg|thumb|Croft Mine Historic Park]]
[[File:SoudanMine arf.JPG|thumb|[[Soudan Underground Mine State Park]]]]
From a [[Geology|geological perspective]], Minnesota's Iron Range includes these four major iron deposits:<ref>{{cite web |url=http://events.mnhs.org/Timepieces/EventDetail.cfm?EventID=598 |title=2 Billion Years Ago: Iron Range Beginnings |website=[[Minnesota Historical Society]] |format= Timepieces |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110809053412/http://events.mnhs.org/Timepieces/EventDetail.cfm?EventID=598 |archive-date=2011-08-09 |df=mdy-all}}</ref>
* [[Mesabi Range]], the largest iron range, largely within Itasca and Saint Louis counties;
* [[Vermilion Range (Minnesota)|Vermilion Range]], northeast of the Mesabi, in Saint Louis and Lake counties;
* [[Gunflint Range]], in the extreme northern portion of Cook County and extending into [[Canada]]; and
* [[Cuyuna Range]], southwest of the Mesabi, largely within [[Crow Wing County, Minnesota|Crow Wing County]].

Within Minnesota, "The Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation is a State Department, established by the legislature of 1941 to render public service through research and the actual development of all the state's resources both natural and human."<ref name=Gruner>{{Cite book |last=Gruner |first=John |title=The Mineralogy and Geology of the Taconites and Iron Ores of the Mesabi Range, Minnesota |publisher=Office of the Commissioner of the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation |year=1946 |page=Foreword|url=https://reflections.mndigital.org/catalog/mgs:4983#/image/0}}</ref> The [[Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board]] (IRRRB), known as "the I-triple-R-B" or Iron Range Resources,<ref>{{cite web | url=https://mn.gov/irrrb/irrrboard/board-members.jsp| title= IRRR Advisory Board Members | website=Department of Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation |df=mdy-all}}</ref> is an economic development agency funded partly by state taxes on [[taconite]]-producing companies and charged with creating jobs.

There have been attempts to expand mining for other metals to areas near the Iron Range, most notably with the [[Twin Metals mine]], but these have received pushback from the federal government and environmentalists because of environmental concerns resulting from their proximity to national protected lands.<ref>{{cite web |title=Feds issue draft assessment that could doom northern Minnesota mine |url=https://www.kare11.com/article/tech/science/environment/twin-metals-mine-boundary-waters-minnesota-us-forest-service/89-44fc51bd-8fdd-4da3-a639-8c8cbdc63749 |date=June 24, 2022 |access-date=2022-12-10 |publisher=KARE-TV}}</ref>