Mine nabs ‘green’ notice

Article Photos

ISHPEMING - In a year of big announcements for Cleveland Cliffs Inc., including a potential merger with Alpha Natural Resources, more good news was announced Tuesday - this time, for the environment.

Tilden Mine, located in National Mine, was certified as compliant with the ISO 14001 standard for environmental management systems by the International Organization for Standardization.

"Environmental stewardship is a Cliffs core value and achieving the ISO 14001 certification exemplifies our commitment to conduct business with state-of-the-art environmental practices," said Dana W. Byrne, CCI's vice president of public and environmental affairs. "The framework that ISO 14001 certification provides will help protect and enhance the company's assets, which is timely, considering our recently announced $500 million investment to increase production at the Tilden and Empire mines."

Tilden was awarded the certification following a rigorous third-party review of its operations, personnel and programs and was certified based on its high level of environmentally friendly compliance, according to Dale Hemmila, the director of public affairs for CCI.

Hemmila said the ISO certification shows the company's determination to be environmentally aware and active.

"The whole ISO concept is to provide an organization, such as Tilden, an effective environmental management system," he said. "You take that, which includes portions of management systems and requirements, to achieve your economic and environmental goals you've set for yourself."

Hemmila listed five key parts of CCI's operations that led to the certification: having continual improvement from an environmental standpoint, preventing pollution, compliance with environmental regulations, the integration of environmental considerations into business plans and being able to measure environmental performance.

Though the company is certified currently, it will continue to be under strong scrutiny from the International Organization of Standardization.

"We will continually be monitored," said Hemmila. "We have to continue our high level of environmental compliance that we've reached and that ISO has said we've reached."

The Tilden Mine is the second of CCI's operations to achieve ISO 14001 certification, as its Northshore mining and power generation operation, located in Minnesota, was certified in 2004.