Living in a materiaL worLd - Minnesota Precision Manufacturing ...

Industry Profile
Iron range resources
Magnetation, Incorporated
www.magnetation.com
Shortly after opening its doors in February of
2009, Magnetation knew it was time to expand.
Based in Nashwauk, Minn., Magnetation has
developed a proprietary—and highly profitable—
process that converts natural ore waste into iron.
Magnetation sets up shop near old tailings
basins. Scattered across the region, these basins
store the waste from iron ore mining. The waste
is processed through Magnetation’s equipment
and iron concentrate is drawn out and sold to
iron makers and steel mills.
When Magnetation is finished with the tailings
basins, it converts these wastelands into ecologically
functioning wetlands. The company then moves onto the
next tailings basin site.
“Northeastern Minnesota is a great place for an
entrepreneurial effort like ours because of the financing
that’s available through Iron Range Resources, which is
not something you can get just anywhere,” said Larry
Lehtinen, CEO and majority owner. “They’ve allowed a
business like ours to come into existence that otherwise
Wide Open cOMpany
www.wideopenco.com
Kirk Davis has been in the power sports business
for decades and is
a motorcycle, ATV
and snowmobile
enthusiast. But he’s
never seen as much
excitement around a
power sports product
as he’s seeing with
utility terrain vehicles
(UTVs), he said.
About 10 years
ago, Davis decided
to get out of the boat
business and jump
into the UTV market.
After launching Wide
Open Company
in Grand Rapids,
Minnesota in 1998,
he and a handful of
employees began designing and building hoods for
crawler vehicles. In 2001 his company began designing
Based in Grand Rapids, Minn.,
Kirk Davis’ Wide Open Company is
recognized within the power sports
industry as a high quality manufacturer
of utility terrain vehicle accessories.
A proprietary process developed by Magnetation,
Incorporated extracts iron units from natural iron ore
tailings and then turns the tailings basins into wetlands.
may not have.”
Magnetation’s first plant was built in 2009 with the
capacity of producing 125,000 tons of product per year.
Soon after, the company expanded, increasing capacity to
250,000 tons per year.
“We hope to put up another four or five plants in the
next 10 years,” Lehtinen said.
Iron Range Resources provided much of the original
financing to build Magnetation’s facility. The agency also
provided low-interest loans to allow the company to
grow shortly after opening.
cab enclosures for the Polaris Ranger vehicle. That, he
said, is when business really started to take off.
“We’re out of warehousing space as I speak,” Davis
said. “We hired 12 employees last year and we’ll hire
potentially another 12 this year.”
UTVs have become popular among consumers,
particularly baby boomers, due to the fact that they can
be used year-round, carry multiple passengers and haul
heavy loads. They’ve also become useful for the mining
and construction industries as well as the military.
Today, Wide Open Company employs 35 people and
manufactures 2,500 UTV enclosures per year in addition
to thousands of heaters and accessories.
Davis decided to start Wide Open Company in
northeastern Minnesota for a number of reasons: “First,
there’s a strong industrial infrastructure here to support
us,” he said. “Second, there are a number of talented
crafts people in this area who have the ability to develop
some of the prototypes and tools we need. Beyond that,
it’s just a great place to live and raise a family.”
Iron Range Resources provided loans to Wide Open
Company for equipment and expansion.