U.S. Steel probes second collapse of a major conveyor at Minntac

U.S. Steel is investigating why a giant taconite conveyor collapsed at its Minntac plant in Mountain Iron over the weekend.

No one was injured in the accident. But the collapse on Saturday was the second involving major overhead equipment at the northern Minnesota site in two weeks. It raised the prospect of a disruption to operations at Minntac.

"You got lines down and so you worry about layoffs," John Arbogast, staff rep at the United Steelworkers (USW) in Virginia, Minn.

"But it looks like they got everything under control," he said Wednesday. "They will bring in temporary conveyors. That is the good thing. They will be able to resume production."

Steve Bonach, president of USW Local 1938, said the company wants to get temporary conveyors in place by the end of the month.

In a statement, U.S. Steel said it was investigating the cause of the conveyor system's "structural failure ... and developing plans for repair."

Because the area was cordoned off at the time, there were no injuries. "At this time, we do not anticipate impact to our customers or supply chain," the statement said.

The conveyor that fell Saturday stood about 60 feet in the air and moved iron taconite pellets from Minntac's kiln to a storage yard, where they sat until loaded onto cargo trains and taken to steel mills in other states.

Union officials are also reviewing the accidents.

"Of course we are concerned," Arbogast said. "You have major buildings falling to the ground. They are looking at why did it happen, and what do we have to fix it to make sure it doesn't happen again and that no one gets killed."

The conveyor belt gallery building that collapsed Jan. 20 served two production lines in a different part of the complex. A heating contractor who was inside the belt gallery when it fell broke a vertebrae and ribs. He is recovering, officials said.

"Thank goodness there was a big pile of pellets underneath when it fell. If the pile was not there, there would have been a fatality. No doubt about it," Bonach said.

In winter, employees work hard to keep the conveyor belts moving as the weight of ice, snow and salt adds to the taconite pellets, Bonach said.

The Minntac plant employs about 1,500 workers and produces about 14.5 million tons of taconite pellets a year.