In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the United States was mining such an abundance of iron ore of high quality that taconite was considered an uneconomic waste product.

By the end of World War II much of the high-grade iron ore in the United States had been exhausted, so taconite became valued as a new source of the metal.

This is to ensure that the blast furnace charge remains porous enough to allow heated gas to pass through and react with the pelletized ore.

[citation needed] The Mesabi Iron Range region of the American state of Minnesota is a major production area.

[3] The SS Edmund Fitzgerald, which sank in Lake Superior on November 10, 1975, was carrying about 26,116 long tons of taconite pellets.

[4] Beginning in 1955, Reserve Mining Company discharged crushed waste rock (tailings) from their Silver Bay, Minnesota processing plant into Lake Superior.

On April 20, 1974, the U.S. District Court judge Miles Lord ruled that the drinking water and Lake Superior must be protected from the asbestos-like particles.

The Reserve Mine was forced to begin disposing of tailing wastes on the land, and to implement air pollution control equipment, instead of discharging them directly to Lake Superior.