United Taconite: an iron ore operation in the United States
United Taconite is an integrated mine and processing complex producing iron ore in Eveleth, Mesabi Iron Range, Minnesota, the United States, operated by Cleveland-Cliffs. The sources report 5 million long tons (as printed, rounded to the nearest million long tons); a long ton is 2,240 pounds for CY2025; the basis is 100% of the mine (100% owned), as reported by the owner. The sources do not give a whole-operation figure in usable ore that can be compared with world output, so no share is computed.
Who owns and operates it?
| Owner | Interest | As of |
|---|---|---|
| Cleveland-Cliffs | 100% | 31 December 2025 |
How much does it produce?
| Period | Output | Basis | Where in the source |
|---|---|---|---|
| CY2025 | 5 million long tons (as printed, rounded to the nearest million long tons); a long ton is 2,240 pounds | 100% of the mine (100% owned), as reported by the owner | printed p.33, Item 2 Properties, 'Iron Ore Production (In millions of long tons)' table, row 'United', 2025 column · Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. |
Status: operating, as of 31 December 2025.
- The 10-K's production table is headed iron ore production in millions of long tons and does not say whether the tonnage is pellets or crude ore; Item 1 and Item 2 describe production capacity in long tons of iron ore pellets. Cleveland-Cliffs idled the Minorca mine and partly idled the Hibbing mine in 2025; Hibbing is reported at the company's 85.3% ownership share and is not listed here.
- The 10-K describes an open pit truck and shovel mine at United with a concentrator and an on-site pellet plant that produce magnetite concentrate and pellets.
- Cleveland-Cliffs prints the figure rounded to the nearest million long tons, which is too coarse for a share of world output to be computed.
How does it compare?
Other iron ore operations on this site: Hamersley mines (Rio Tinto Pilbara), Hope Downs (Rio Tinto and Hancock Prospecting), Robe River - Robe Valley, Robe River - West Angelas, Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC), Simandou Blocks 3 and 4 (SimFer), Western Australia Iron Ore (WAIO), Fortescue Pilbara hematite operations, Iron Bridge (magnetite), Onslow Iron, Serra Sul (S11D), Carajas, Serra Norte, Carajas. In the United States: Tilden, Northshore. See where iron ore comes from for the country totals, the country page for United States, and Cleveland-Cliffs for its other operations here.
Sources
- Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.: Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended 31 December 2025 (annual report (SEC Form 10-K), CY2025 with 2024 and 2023 comparatives). Opened 4 November 2026; used: printed pp.1, 31, 33-35 (Item 2 Properties).
- U.S. Geological Survey: Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Iron Ore (government statistical summary, 2025 (world and country mine production of usable ore)). Opened 3 November 2026; used: world and country mine production table, usable ore.
Method and limits
- Reported, not estimated. Output is the figure the operator or owner published, in the unit it used. This site does not estimate output where none is published.
- Shares. A share divides output in usable ore by the USGS world or country total for 2025. Where the operator's year is a fiscal year or the unit is a concentrate or a carbonate equivalent, the share is approximate or not given.
- What is compared. Operators print tonnes of ore: saleable production for most, run-of-mine and pelletizing feed for Vale, and shipments for Fortescue and Onslow Iron, mostly as wet tonnes. The figure is compared with the USGS usable-ore total, which does not state a moisture basis, so the share is indicative.
- Whole operation or owner's share. The basis column says which. A joint venture's output is never counted twice.
- Partial list. Only operations with a published figure are listed, so the rank is among those on this site, not among every iron ore mine. Shares of a country's output mix periods and bases, so treat them as indicative.
- Made with AI assistance, checked against sources. The facts were gathered from the documents above by AI-assisted research and re-checked against those documents by a second, independent pass; the page text is generated from the data. No professional review took place. How the site is made. To report an error, contact us; fixes are logged on the corrections page.