Business View Magazine | July 2019

123 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE JULY 2019 Range Regional Airport Se rv i ng Mi nneso t a ’s I ron Range r eg i on T he Range Regional Airport in Hibbing, Minnesota serves not only the city but the whole Iron Range region, which contains a number of elongated iron-ore mining districts around Lake Superior in the United States and Canada. The Mesabi Iron Range, largest of four major iron ranges in the region, is the chief iron ore mining district in the United States. In fact, the Hull-Rust-Mahoning Open Pit Iron Mine on the edge of Hibbing is the largest mine of its type in the world. “This region is known for taconite iron mining,” says Shaun Germolus, Executive Director of the Range Regional Airport. “That is, currently, 85 percent of the iron ore that’s produced in the United States. There are eight mining companies that have been on the Iron Range for several years, but there are also a couple of newer companies that are sitting on the largest copper and nickel reserve in North America and, possibly, the world. Starting back in 2006, we recognized that we were under-positioned with air service, and as these developments were going to occur, we wanted to ensure we could meet future demands through improving the Airport over the last decade. And I