Western Railroad Discussion > Utah Iron Ore Moving Through Stockton?

While at Winterail, I picked up a copy of the local Stockton Record newspaper, and on page A5 for the March 10th issue there was a story about the Port of Stockton handling 800,000 tons of iron ore during 2011, and a new section of 5,825 feet of track built specifically to improve the handling or bulk unit trains at the port.

March 9, 2012
Iron ore trains from Utah began using the Port of Stockton in Stockton, California, using 5,825 feet of new track built by Central California Traction Company, provider of rail service to the port. The port received its first iron ore shipments in 2011, and had shipped 800,000 tons by year's end. Trains were to be operated into the port facilities on a weekly basis starting on April 1, 2012. (The Record [Stockton, California], March 10, 2012, page A5)

I suspect that Utah is the only source of iron ore in the western U.S., but I could be wrong.

Don Strack

http://www.progressiverailroading.com/intermodal/news/California-port-marks-completion-of-track-expansion--30187#

http://www.portofstockton.com/

The iron ore from Utah is also going to the Port of Richmond in train loads of 90 cars...about once a week....Richmond Pacific handles the switching from the UP at Stege to the Port.....

Where in Utah is/are the iron mine(s)? Cedar City? Exporting iron ore is good for our economy.
Joe

There may be re-development of iron ore deposits in Northern Utah, that once supplied some ore to Geneva Works USS.
"The difference between a rock and an ore is the price of metal on the commodity markets." (unknown)

I just did a google search for iron mining in the US and MI and MN are the current iron mining states as expected. Going back a little ways in history showed some iron mining occurred in AL, MS, NV, WY and UT. I suspect UT is the source of western iron ore headed to the CA ports.
Joe



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/16/12 21:44 by jsnoy.

jsnoy Wrote:
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> Where in Utah is/are the iron mine(s)? Cedar
> City? Exporting iron ore is good for our
> economy.
> Joe

Yes, there is a mine west of Cedar City, UT that is supplying the unit trains headed for Stockton and Richmond, CA. If you do a search, there are some photos from the past year or so of the shortline units (very snappy looking by the way) that haul the ore down to the UP's LA&SL line. UP then runs the trains out to Northern California.

Nathan

Where in Northern Utah? I am a Utah native and have never heard of a mine in Northern Utah.
Blaine

If you google the "Iron Mountain Project", you can find more information about the iron ore operations around Cedar City. Also if you search TrainOrders for CML Metals a stream of posts from June 2010 will appear. By piecing together bits and pieces it seems, what was a concept (shipping iron ore) in 2010, has now become economic reality in early 2012. A big piece of the story belongs to the forward thinking on the part of the Port of Stockton for laying in more trackage at the port. Lets hope the exports continue to grow.

I just did a google search on cmlmetals.com and found their website. Under "Projects" go to Iron Mountain Project and look under "pictures". They have several galleries showing: the mine, the plant, plant construction, load-out operations, railroad operations and finally port operations. The load-out is certainly different than the traditional coal load-out. The pictures really tell the story of the entire operation.
Joe



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/17/12 08:04 by jsnoy.

The export iron ore via the Port of Stockton and Port of Richmond (CA) has been going on for awhile now. What the Stockton article is really trying to say is exports (of iron ore, concentrated) will be increasing.


Allen

Why both Stockton and Richmond?

timz2 Wrote:
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> Why both Stockton and Richmond?

Off the top of my head: the ships cannot be fully loaded at Port of Stockton due to channel depth. They then go to Port of Richmond to add additional iron ore to the max weight. My understanding (from second hand information) is Port of Stockton is better equipped to handle the iron ore than Port of Richmond is, thus POS is first choice.

The ore will soon all be concentrated before shipment:

http://www.palladonventures.com/s/PressReleases.asp?ReportID=501429&_Type=Press-Releases&_Title=Palladon-Ventures-CML-Update



Allen

jsnoy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I just did a google search for iron mining in the
> US and MI and MN are the current iron mining
> states as expected. Going back a little ways in
> history showed some iron mining occurred in AL,
> MS, NV, WY and UT. I suspect UT is the source of
> western iron ore headed to the CA ports.
> Joe

You missed two fairly recent Iron mining states, Wisconsin and Missouri.

Missouri is mostly potential at the moment, very large deposits, still waiting
for investors and approval of the slurry line to the processing center. We're
selling bits and pieces to the project people and they're still optimistic
though it's taking much longer than anticipated.