Northshore Mining Workers Back On The Job

SILVER BAY, Minn. (AP) - More than 400 workers at Cliffs Natural Resources' Northshore Mining are back on the job - the first major callback of workers in several months on northern Minnesota's Iron Range.

Cliffs Natural Resources announced in November it was temporarily shutting down Northshore's taconite mine in Babbitt and processing plant in Silver Bay amid a global steel industry slump. Government leaders and industry officials blame the more than 2,000 Iron Range layoffs over the past year on cheap subsidized Chinese steel dumped on U.S. markets.

Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar toured the facility in Silver Bay Thursday and met with workers. Klobuchar says success cannot be declared until every employee returns to work.

United Taconite is expected to restart later this year.