Mine: Groveland Mine, Randville, MI

Began → Groveland Mine → Became

Operated for 59+ years.

From: 1891

Location: S 1/2-NE, SE-NW, NE-SW and N 1/2-SE Sec. 31 of T42N-R29W.  Originally consisted of NW-SE and NE-SW Sec. 31 of T42N-R29W only.

Owned by: Before 1905 by Corrigan McKinney Steel Co. Later by Groveland Mining Co. As of 1950 by Hanna Coal & Ore Corp. (M.A. Hanna agent).

Produced: Iron Ore, hard, gray, siliceous. Crushed.

Method: Above ground, open pit. Worked by stoping method. Depth: 300 feet.

Railroad connection: C&NW to Escanaba ore dock. Milwaukee Road, later E&LS

Stamp Mill/Pellet Plant: On site. See below.

Until: 1950 continues

Lifetime Production: 156,032 tons between 1891-1913.

A pilot plant constructed in 1951 to treat the low-grade siliceous ores from this property, beginning in 1952.

[LSIO-1950]

Notes

N 1/2 of SE 1/4 of Section 31 and 25. T42N-R29W.

Opened in 1901.

Time Line

1881. Exploring was begun on what is known as the Groveland Mine, located in the N. E. ¼ of S. W. ¼ and N. W. ¼ of S. E. ¼, Section 31, 42-29, Dickinson County, by the Felch Mountain Mining Company, a subsidiary of the Old Menominee Mining Company, and continued by them until 1885 when it was abandoned. The work consisted of pits, trenches and shallow drill holes.

1887. W. H. Rand of Chicago organized the Groveland Mining Company, and equipped the property for active mining. A small shipment of ore was made to Joliet, Ills., in 1888 and again in 1889. The ore being too low grade to be disposed of at this time, shipments were stopped and exploratory work carried on until 1892 when the company suspended operations.

1891. Preparations for future work are in progress at the Inter-Range property, which is supposed to be a continuation of the Felch Mountain range. A shaft is 45 feet in ore and good length and width proven. A plant of machinery is being placed. The property is distanced about four miles from the Milwaukee & Northern railroad a a s spur will probably be completed to permit shipment in the early spring. [DD-1891-0801]

1901. It remained closed until 1901 when it was reopened by Corrigan, McKinney & Co., and abandoned by them in 1905.

1891. The Milwaukee road branch to Groveland Mine from Groveland Junction was built in 1891. [MRL]

1901. May. A crew of railroad men are busy laying rails from the main line of the CM&StP railroad to the old Groveland mine, which has been taken under option by Corrigan, McKinney & Company. There is an old grade, built in 1890 by the former operators of the mine, so that all the work required is to lay rails and ties. As soon as rails are down machinery will be put upon the property and the mine cleared of water.

There is a stockpile of about 8,000 tons on the dock ready for shipment. The Groveland is a Bessemer ore of low iron contents. Such ores were not in demand in the days when the Groveland was opened but have come into the market within recent years. [DD-1901-0518]

1907. In 1907 it was again opened by G. W. Youngs who organized the present Groveland Mining Company, the present operators. Shipments of ore have been made for the past four years without interruption and to date the mine has shipped about 140,000 tons. The equipment consists of four 60 H. P. boilers, one 12”x16” Lake Shore Engine Works geared hoist, one 20”x16½”x28”x 24” Franklin compressor and one No. 7½ Gates crusher. F. W. Youngs of Iron River is superintendent.

July, 1951 - Lean Ores Plant Being Built by Mining Company

Construction of a pilot plant by Western-Knapp Engineering Co. of San Francisco, and stripping of land preparatory to mining by the Bacco Construction company, of Iron Mountain, is in full swing at the old Groveland mine location, four miles east of Randville on highway M-69, where the Hanna Coal and Ore company's experimental plant for processing low grade iron is expected to be in operation by late fall. Concrete footings have been completed and upright construction has been started on the plant which, when completed, will be 113 feet long, 56 feet wide and 80 feet high. J. B. Richardson is superintendent of the job for Western-K n a p p, which has a branch office at Hibbing, Minn.

DOING OTHER WORK

The Western-Knapp company, specialists in construction of taconite plants, have other mining construction in progress throughout the nation. J. L. Prewett construction manager of the Eastern and North Central division of the company is here for several days inspecting the work here. Thirty-one men are employed on the pilot plant construction. According to Superintendent Richardson, the job is scheduled to be completed bv late October. Meanwhile, the Bacco Construction company, Iron Mountain, which has the contract for mining the ore to be used in the experiment, has a crew of 18 men and heavy equipment stripping the land and building roads. According to Joseph Rigom, president of the Bacco company, the contract calls for drilling, blasting and stock-piling 25,000 tons of low grade ore This supply, it is believed, will be sufficient to determine whether taconite can be produced for commercial utilization.

ORE IS STOCKPILED

Rigom expects the 25,000 tons of ore will be stockpiled and ready for use in several months, or before the plant is ready for operation Superintendent Richardson said the pilot plant will have nine separate floors, on a staggered basis. There will be a difference of as little as one foot between the levels of some of the floors. The plant, he said, will have approximately 100 pieces of processing equipment when the building is completed Western- Knapp also will install all the equipment. In April, when the Hanna company announced plans for the pilot plant at Randville. S. E. Quayle, of Iron River, superintendent of the Hanna operations in Michigan emphasized that the operation is purely experimental. The result of the experiment at Randville, he said, \vill determine whether production of taconite can be continued there on a commercial basis.

LEASED 2,560 ACRES

Before final plans for the Randville experimental plant were completed, the Hanna company obtained options for the lease of approximately 2,560 acres of land in the old Groveland mine area, The process of beneficiation of low-grade ore consists principally of a series of grinding and washing operations by which iron ore is reduced to a fine powder, and the iron content segregated, by further washing and screening, and prepared for shipping to furnaces. The pilot plant at Randville will be the first of its kind in the Upper Peninsula.

[Ironwood Daily Globe, Ironwood, MI., July 14, 1951]

Groveland Mine was an iron ore mine located 12 miles northeast of Iron Mountain, MI in Dickenson County. The mine was reached through a Milwaukee Road branch line east off their main line south of Channing.

1965. An active open pit mine producing iron concentrates. Operated by the Hanna Mining Company of Cleveland, OH. [DMP]