The Gogebic Iron Range is an 80-mile long belt of distinctive Precambrian bedrock in northern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It stretches east to west, roughly from Lake Gogebic in Michigan to Lake Namekagon in Wisconsin.
The Penokee/Gogebic Deposit generally refers to a 21-mile long segment of the Gogebic Iron Range between the community of Upson and Mineral Lake in Wisconsin. The deposit contains 20-30 percent iron in the form of magnetite. Because the iron ore is of lower grade than the natural hematitic ores mined previously in northern Wisconsin, the ore must be concentrated and processed into taconite pellets prior to shipping to a steel mill.
Gogebic Taconite, LLC, application process
Most of the surface and mineral rights for the land containing the deposit are currently owned by the LaPointe Iron Company and RGGS Land & Minerals, Ltd., which have optioned potential development of the deposit to Gogebic Taconite, LLC.
Gogebic is currently considering development along a four-mile stretch east of the community of Mellen. The area of interest straddles the boundary between Iron and Ashland counties and lies between Tyler Forks River to the east and Ballou Creek to the west.
If developed, the project would likely include an open pit mining operation, a plant site and waste disposal facilities.