CALUMET — At Calumet’s second annual “Reclaim and Connect” community day, a 14-passenger tour van drove through the old Hill Annex mine, passing abandoned buildings and old railroad tracks on its way to the top of a tailings stockpile.
Donna Johnson, administrative director for Calumet Reclamation Co., led the tour Friday, Aug. 21.
“You can see in the rail loadout that the cars are still parked with trees growing out of them,” Johnson said, pointing near one of the abandoned buildings on the old mine site. “If you look at any of the conveyor belts, there’s still product on the conveyor belts.”
Hill Annex has a storied past. Mining in the area ended nearly 50 years ago, plunging the site into a standstill. In 1991, the area became a state park, and in 2024, the DNR revoked its state park status under the condition that mining would return to the site.
Now, Calumet Reclamation plans to return to the site’s roots, sifting through World War II-era mining stockpiles to collect leftover iron ore. According to Johnson, the project would bring 150 jobs to the area. It would also provide ore to a pig iron facility in Wynot, North Dakota, which is also owned by Calumet Reclamation. Pig iron is a product used to make steel.
The community day celebrated the opening of both Calumet Reclamation's local office and a new cafe called The Hematite.
At the event, Calumet City Clerk April Serich spoke about the city’s partnership with Calumet Reclamation. She said she hopes the project brings jobs and attention to the city.
“It’s bringing people to Calumet,” she said. “We’re getting our name on the map.”
Sawyer Barsness, 11, of Bovey attended the event with his grandpa, a former mine worker. Barsness said in addition to the free sandwiches and pop, he was excited about the project.
“It’s cool, and I like to see it,” he said.
From the top of one of the massive stockpiles, Carolyn King of Grand Rapids took pictures of the view. She wore a Hill Annex Mine State Park shirt and recalled her experience swimming in the mine pit in 1998. At the time, it was not a permitted act.
“I was able to jump in the water and beat off about 20 strokes and that was all I could manage,” she said.
Despite her love for the state park, King said she is supportive of Calumet Reclamation’s project because it took aim at existing mine waste.
“It’s, you know, the fact that they’re not digging out, that they’re taking from the stockpiles,” she said.
According to Johnson, it will take about 10 years for Calumet Reclamation to work through its first set of stockpiles, reducing the piles by about 60%.
The company is now awaiting permitting, which is set to wrap up this fall. Calumet Reclamation is still raising funds, and Johnson said the hope is to move forward with the project next year.
