Northshore Mining, originally operated as Reserve Mining, opened in 1955 as the first taconite processing facility in North America. Its production capacity doubled to 10 million tons in 1964, Cyprus Minerals purchased the property in 1989, and Cliffs Natural Resources became the sole owner in 1994. As demand for steel declined, the plant's production capacity and workforce were reduced. At full capacity, Northshore Mining employs over 600 people and can produce about 6 million tons of iron ore pellets each year. Low-grade iron ore called taconite is mined in Babbitt, Minnesota, then blasted, crushed, and transported by rail over 47 miles to Silver Bay, where it is upgraded from 25 percent iron content to 65 percent iron content. The ore is ground from about 4-inch size to about the consistency of face powder, and the iron is separated from the remaining rock through water, magnetic separation, and flotation. About 3 tons of crude ore yield 1 ton of final product. The iron is then mixed with a binder, rolled into balls about 7/16-inch in diameter, fired in a furnace to about 2,350 degrees, cooled, and shipped to blast furnaces to make steel for automobiles, household appliances, heavy machinery, and military equipment. Northshore Mining operates under strict permits issued by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, Department of Natural Resources, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and its environmental specialists regularly monitor air, water, and other natural resources. Most of what appears to be smoke from the plant's furnace stacks is actually steam, 97 percent of the water used in taconite production is recycled, reclamation efforts are ongoing at the Babbitt mine, and the mined areas are expected someday to become large fresh water lakes surrounded by land.