UtahRails.net Copyright 2000-2008 Don Strack

Utah's Iron Ore Industry and Utah's Railroads

Compiled by Don Strack

This page was last updated on May 16, 2008.

(...a work in progress; research continues.)

Additional Sources

Overview — From Utah Mining Association's August 1967 "Operations and Economic Review":

Iron ore was first discovered by an exploration party headed by Parley P. Pratt in 1849-50. A crude foundry was built by the pioneers at New Harmony in 1852 and began producing in 1853. It was soon abandoned. The ore deposits remained undeveloped because of distance from markets, transportation difficulties and lack of adequate treatment plants in the West. The Iron Springs district was organized in 1871 and reorganized, 1879. The Pinto district was organized in 1868, a few miles southwest of Iron Springs. A crude furnace and foundry were erected by the Great Western Milling & Mining Co. in 1868. They produced about 400 tons of pig iron before closing in 1876 or 1877.

The Ironton blast furnace of Columbia Steel Corporation (purchased by the U.S. Steel Corporation in 1930) near Springville and the Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad's Iron Mountain-to-Cedar City branch line were completed in 1923-24, and commercial scale mining of the Iron Mountain deposits began. The Columbia Steel Corp.'s operations were the first to successfully use coke made from Utah coal. The U.S. Defense Plant Corporation built the Geneva Steel plant in Utah County during the 1942-44 period, and the Iron County ore reserves assumed new importance. The plant was taken over by U.S. Steel Corp. in 1946. Although Iron County's iron ore production has decreased since U.S. Steel began shipping pelletized iron ore to the Geneva Works from Atlantic City, Wyoming a few years ago, the output is still sufficient to give Utah fourth place in the ranking of iron-producing states.

Large areas in the southern part of the county are underlain with iron deposits. Most of the good commercial grade ore occurs in disconnected masses in a belt about 20 miles long and 1-1/8 miles wide, stretching from northeast to southwest along the eastern and southern slopes of Three Peaks, Granite Mountain and Iron Mountain. Bureau of Mines experts in 1957 estimated the Iron Mountain area reserves at 350,000,000 tons. Of this total, 100 million tons was classified as recoverable at this time, and the Bureau predicted greater reserves of high grade ore at deeper levels. Efficient mining and low cost concentration will be required to develop the remaining 250 million tons. The richest discoveries have been made in the Iron Springs, Iron Mountain and Pinto districts and in these localities there has been the heaviest production.

All-time output to 1965 was 72,273,000 tons. The U.S. Steel Corp. mines its own iron ore for shipment to the Geneva plant in Utah County. The CF&I Steel Corp. properties furnish ore for the Pueblo, Colo. steel plant of CF&I, the actual mining being done by the Utah Construction & Mining Co. Utah Construction also has its own Iron County properties from which it ships ore to Geneva Works in Utah, to Pueblo, Colo., to Kaiser Steel Co.'s Fontana, California plant and sometimes to foreign countries. Utah Construction completed a $1,300,000 plant at its Iron Springs open pit mine for upgrading the low grade ores of the area. Some iron ore and concentrates are shipped to cement plants in Utah, Idaho and the Pacific Northwest, where it is used to impart special properties to cement.

Chronology History

1850s:
Iron ore was discovered in the southern part of the territory in 1850, by Parley P. Pratt, and steps were immediately taken to develop the industry. In his message to the legislature of the State of Deseret on December 2, 1850, Brigham Young called attention to the discovery of iron ore and urged an appropriation to aid in its development. On December 3, 1850, Iron County was organized (Journal History, December 3, 1850). The Cedar City Iron Company was organized and was making some progress, but was short of capital and workers. The Deseret Iron Company was formed in Liverpool, England, early in 1852. Iron was actually produced in the fall of 1852; but due to high costs, Indian depredations and floods, the experiments finally had to be acknowledged a failure in 1857 - one which had cost the territorial government about $150,000. (Anna Viola Lewis, "Development of Mining in Utah", unpublished Master's thesis, Department of History, University of Utah, 1941, p. 25.)

1870:
At the last spike ceremony for Utah's first railroad, the Utah Central, on January 10, 1870, both the mallet and the last spike itself was made of Utah iron, by James Lawson at the LDS church's blacksmith shop. The spike was so highly polished that it appeared as silver. "The mallet was elegantly cased, bearing on the top an engraved beehive surrounded by the inscription, 'Holiness to the Lord,' and underneath the beehive were the letters U.C.R.R.; a similar insignia consecrated the spike." (Our Pioneer Heritage, Volume 10, page 142)

1873:
In September 1873, the iron ore mines of Iron County were the stated destination of the Iron Mountain and Utah Valley Railroad. Its stated route was 273 miles from Iron City, north to a connection with Utah Southern, whose line from Salt Lake City was by Septemebr 1873, at American Fork, at the northern end of Utah Valley. The line was not built. (Utah Corporation Index 4292)

1874:
Although the Utah iron mines were producing iron ore for local use, transportation of the iron ore from the south to the northern cities was a factor in it not being used. Importing iron ore from the east was still less expensive, as shown by a traffic report for the Utah Central from March 1874, which showed that just over 273 tons of iron ore was imported during that month. (Our Pioneer Heritage, Volume 10, page 144) This would have been over Utah Central's route between Salt Lake City and Ogden, because the rail line south from Salt Lake City to Utah Valley was by way of the Utah Southern Railroad, which by December 1874 had been completed between Salt Lake City and Spanish Fork, at the southern end of Utah Valley.

27 January 1875:
"The Utah Western Railroad Company is about to commence the manufacture of ten flat cars." The iron parts to be cast of Utah iron, and Utah lumber to be used also. (Pitchard, Deseret Evening News, 27 January 1875)

1880-1881:
The rails of Utah Southern Extension Railroad were completed to the Horn silver mine at Frisco on June 23, 1880, just 60 miles north of Iron Mountain. The Utah Southern Railroad Extension was an 1879 extension of the Utah Southern Railroad, and was controlled by Union Pacific, which very soon also took control of both Utah Central and Utah Southern. In 1881, UP consolidated its control of its Utah railroads under the new Utah Central Railway, which combined the routes of Utah Central Railroad, Utah Southern Railroad, and Utah Southern Railroad Extension.

1881-1882:
During 1881, access to the iron mines of Iron County played a part in the larger picture of railroad development in Southern Utah. Two out-of-state railroads, the Atlantic and Pacific, and the Texas and Pacific, each anounced plans to connect with a third road, California Central, that was planning to build across Nevada to connect with the other roads along the Utah-Nevada line, northwest of Cedar City. Railroad officials in Utah, including John Sharp, commenced talks with the California road to bypass the plans of the "foreign" roads and instead, make their connection with the Utah Central Railway, already building south from Utah Valley to serve the silver mines near Frisco. On August 23, 1881, the Utah Central plans were formalized with the organization of the California Central, Utah Division, with a specific stated goal of the iron mines and coal mines of Iron County, and a connection with Utah Central. On January 20, 1882, Utah Central ammended its own incorporation papers to include a route to the mines in Iron County. (Reeder, page 403, which includes a citation of Salt Lake Herald, September 17 and 22, 1881)

1883:
According to H. H. Bankcroft's 1886 History of Utah, in 1883 Utah's foundries and machine-shops produced an estimated $360,000 in iron products, being second only to the territory's flour and grist mills. He also estimated that with suitable and abundant fuel, there would probably be no state west of the Missouri with better facilities than Utah for the production of iron. (Bancroft, page 735)

1884:
"Moving a Railroad." "Bishop Thomas Taylor, superintendent of the Utah Iron Manufacturing Company, is about to commence the work of removing to Iron City, in this territory, the rails, ties, rolling stock, etc., of the Nevada Central Railroad, which the company he represents recently purchased. The manner of moving the plant will be as follows: the workmen will first move the track and materials in Pioche down to Delmoi's ranch, then they will remove the track from the Bullionville end up to the same place, then all the material will be removed to Iron City. It is the intention at present to take up and relay the track as they go on. Before they arrive halfway to their destination, says the Pioche Record, it is safe to predict that they will give up this method of removing the road." (Pitchard, Salt Lake Evening Chronicle, 7 January 1884)

In 1884, it was reported that the greatest use of iron ore was for the use as flux in the smelting of precious metals in the territory. The Utah Gazzetteer for 1884 noted that the Salt Lake and Western Railway was built to transport both precious metal ores from the Tintic area and other mines in western Utah, and iron ores for smelter fluxing purposes; low grade iron ore deposits having been discovered in the Tintic mining district. This line was constructed in 1882 as a standard gauge branchline of Union Pacific. (Our Pioneer Heritage, Volume 10, page 164)

1886:
By 1886, H. H. Bancroft noted that the importing of iron ore into Utah had "now practically ceased", and that shipment of iron ore and charcoal "at one time were important factors in the imports." This was most likely a direct benefit of the completion of the Utah Southern's (later Utah Central's) line to Milford, then west to the silver mine at Frisco, just 60 miles to the north of Iron Mountain. Transporting iron ore north to the smelters would have been by wagon to Milford, then by Utah Central trains for the remaining 226 miles to Salt Lake City.

March 1889:
In March 1889, Utah Central Railway amended its corporate papers to include a branch to Iron County, with Summit given as the name of the new southern terminus. Also, a line to the Kanarra coal fields in Iron County was added as another extension into Iron County. Neither extension was built.

1899-1903:
Railroad service came closer to Iron Mountain with the completion of the Utah and Pacific Railroad in 1899 between Milford and Uvada on the Utah/Nevada stateline. In 1902-1903 a battle of corporate titans ensued as a new railroad line backed by Senator William Clark, with a route from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City, reached southern Nevada. The Utah and Pacific was part of a competing line backed by E. H. Harriman that was to build south across Nevada to Los Angeles. The settlement in 1903 between the two companies resulted in Clark's San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad being built along the contested route, and taking ownership of the line north to Salt Lake City, but with Harriman owning 50 percent of the Clark road. The line was completed between Los Angeles and Salt Lake City in May 1905, but the nearest railroad service for Cedar City and Iron Mountain was still along the old Utah and Pacific line, 25 miles northwest.

1903:
RGW was preparing to build into the iron fields from Marysvale, including seventy miles of railroad to be constructed "this year". (Salt Lake Mining Review, Volume 5, number 1, April 15, 1903, p.25)

1910:
Article with description of the survey of the Iron Mountain, St. George & Grand Canyon Railroad. (Salt Lake Mining Review, Volume 12, number 7, July 15, 1910, p.20)

1918:
In 1918, in one of the first indications of commercial development of the iron resources in the Cedar City area, there was a news item about surveyors of Colorado Fuel & Iron Company being at work in the vicinity of Cedar City, Utah. (Salt Lake Mining Review, Volume 20, number 6, June 30, 1918, p.38, "Mine, Mill and General News")

1919:
"New Railroad in Iron County", article about a new line between Lund and Cedar City to serve the Old Capital Petroleum Fuel & Iron Company. Organizers included A. Meeker, Jr., president and J. J. McClellan, secretary treasurer. Directors included Dr. C. F. Wilcox, Dr. E. D. Woodruff, and George W. Morgan. J. U. Eldredge was general manager. Contractor was to be Hanover Construction of Philadelphia. (Salt Lake Mining Review, Volume 20, number 24, March 30, 1919, p.23)

Commercial production began in the 1920s with the opening of the Deseret Mound Pit for Columbia Steel Co., which also initiated a railroad by the name of Iron County Railway to move iron ore from its Iron County iron mines to its new iron mill at ironton, near Springville. At the same time, Columbia Steel organized the Carbon County Railway to move coal from Carbon County coal mines to the Ironton mill. While the Carbon County Railway was indeed built (operation began on July 5, 1923), the plans for the Iron County Railway were set aside when Union Pacific announced that they were building a branchline through the same territory. This was UP's Cedar City Branch, which began operation in December 1923.

October 18, 1922:
LA&SL received ICC approval to construct the 32.5-mile Cedar City Branch. To be completed by December 31, 1923. (ICC Finance Docket 2527) (The branch was to be constructed to serve the developing iron ore mines in the district west of Cedar City.)

Utah Iron Ore Company was organized on December 24, 1923. (corporation file)

August 1922:
Columbia Steel received Utah Public Utilities Commission approval to construct a subsidiary called the Carbon County Railway. At the same time they withdrew their application to build another subsidiary called the Iron County Railway which was to be constructed from Lund, on the Union Pacific, to their iron ore properties in Iron County. The steel company withdrew their application based on the Union Pacific's protest in which Union Pacific stated that they were intending to construct the Cedar City Branch. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 577)

The iron ore bodies in Iron County had been discovered in the early 1850s by Mormon pioneers. The particular deposits near Iron Mountain were first located in the 1870s but by the 1920s had not yet been commercially worked. The mines were to be developed to furnish ore for the new Columbia Steel Company's new iron mill that was being constructed near Springville. The actual mining was done by the steel company's subsidiary Columbia Iron Mining Company, and also by the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company to supply its mill in Pueblo, Colorado. Columbia's mill near Springville, called Ironton, went into production, producing pig iron, on May 1, 1924. The construction of the Cedar City Branch also included the 4.5-mile Iron Mountain Branch to Desert Mound, which left the Cedar City Branch at Iron Springs (Mile Post 20.28).

In 1935 Columbia Iron Mining expanded their operations to include the open pit mine at Iron Mountain and Union Pacific extended the Iron Mountain Branch 10 miles south to reach Iron Mountain Station. In 1942 mining operations were again expanded to supply ore for the new Columbia-Geneva Steel plant, under construction near Orem to supply steel plate needed for the war effort, and Union Pacific made improvements to the facilities on the branch to handle the additional traffic. (U. S. Bureau of Mines Report of Investigations 4076, May 1947)

"Iron Ore Production by Utah Iron Ore Corporation…", with photographs of the loading tipple at Desert Mound, Utah. (Salt Lake Mining Review, Volume 28, number 8, July 30, 1926, p.9)

1927:
Union Pacific's Utah Parks Company began operating the facilities at Grand Canyon National Park, and took over the interests of Utah & Grand Canyon Transportation Company, the bus company that was operating the bus service between Union Pacific's passenger trains at Cedar City and Cedar Breaks National Monument, Bryce Canyon National Monument, Zion's Canyon National Park, and Grand Canyon National Park. The bus company had begun the service in 1923. (Poor's, 1929, p. 1052)

(Union Pacific changed the name of the bus company to Union Pacific Stages.)

March 23, 1927:
LA&SL received ICC approval to operate 1.87-mile Columbia Steel Spur to the Ironton steel plant of Columbia Steel. The spur was built in 1923 to deliver materials needed for the construction of the steel plant. The approval was protested by the Salt Lake & Utah Railroad interurban line because they felt that they should be receiving a large portion of the traffic from the steel plant. The Union Pacific spur crossed both the D&RGW and the SL&U, with the portion from the D&RGW crossing to the steel plant being operated as joint trackage because the steel plant received its coal from the Carbon County coal mines served by the D&RGW and the Utah Railway. The steel plant received its other raw materials from sources on the Union Pacific; iron ore from Iron County on Union Pacific Cedar City Branch, limestone from the Topliff quarries in Tooele County on Union Pacific's Fairfield Branch, and manganese from Pioche, Nevada on Union Pacific's Pioche Branch. (ICC Finance Docket 5543, in 124 ICC 207)

April 18, 1928:
LA&SL received Utah Public Utilities Commission approval to discontinue Sunday passenger service on the Cedar City Branch. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 1018)

October 1930:
Union Pacific was operating Trains 3 and 4 between Salt Lake City and Lund, and Trains 103 and 104 between Lund and Cedar City. In October 1930 the Public Utilities Commission approved the road's application to discontinue all four trains and only operate passenger train service to Cedar City during the tourist season. During the off-season the service was to be provided using motor buses of the Union Pacific Stages. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 1197)

1934:
LA&SL to construct Iron Mountain Extension on Iron Springs Spur of Cedar City Branch, from Desert Mound to Iron Mountain, 11.31 miles, to serve iron ore mines. Construction to commence on May 31, 1935. (ICC Finance Docket 10622, approved November 8, 1934, 202 ICC 454) (see also Utah Public Service Commission files, Box B65T1, 9/14/1987)

SL&U received Utah PSC approval to increase freight rates, along with all the other railroads in the state. Columbia Steel Corporation's Ironton plant began operations on May 1, 1924. Between 1924 and 1934, the plant produced: 1,189,598 tons of pig iron; 825,574 tons of coke; 44,702 tons of sulfate of ammonia; and 35,939 tons of benzol. The pig iron produced at the plant is shipped to plants in Pittsburg and Torrance, California. (Utah Public Service Commission, Case 1658)

May 31, 1935:
LA&SL began construction of the 11.31-mile line between Desert Mound and Iron Mountain, as an extension of the Cedar City Branch, to serve the iron ore mines that are being developed there. (ICC Financial Docket 10622)

1942-1944:
Five hundred beehive coke ovens were constructed at the Columbia coal mine by the War Department to increase the coke capacity. A blast furnace for making pig iron was moved from Illinois to Ironton, but the war was almost over by the time that the blast furnace went into operation, therefore both the beehive coke ovens and the blast furnace were only in operation a short time. It was reported that the construction of the beehive coke ovens at Columbia cost $3 million and the movement and installation of the blast furnace cost $9 million. Kaiser purchased both the beehive coke ovens and the blast furnace from the War Assets Administration. (Gibson: Kaiser, p. 261)

February 1953:
Purchase 10 1,500 horsepower EMD SD7 locomotives. Total cost of $2,150,000. (Union Pacific AFE 12, approved February 3, 1953)

The 10 SD7 locomotives would be used for handling Iron Mountain to Milford, Utah, business, and for heavy switching at the Geneva steel plant. Seven units were to be assigned to the South-Central District, and three units were to be assigned to effect economical operation of various branches, other than on the South-Central District. (Union Pacific letter, Stoddard to Charske, February 3, 1953)

1966:
U. S. Steel's iron plant at Ironton was closed in 1966.

1967:
Millions of tons of ore are supplied by Iron County's mines for the huge furnaces of Geneva Works. The volume of Utah iron consumed at Geneva has diminished substantially since U. S. Steel Corp. began the importation of iron ore from its new taconite mining and milling complex near Atlantic City, Wyoming. Other industries stem from the primary processing of iron ore, such as the iron foundries - Backman Foundry, Cox Foundry and Pacific States Cast Iron Pipe Co., Provo, and the Spanish Fork Foundry in Spanish Fork; also a big steel pipe plant owned and operated by U. S. Steel near the Geneva Works. (Utah Mining Association, "Operational and Economic Review, August 1967, page 92)

1977:
Union Pacific received Utah Public Utilities Commission approval to abandon portions of the Ironton Branch. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 77-400-06)

February 16, 1981:
Union Pacific operated the last train of iron ore from Iron Mountain to the Colorado Fuel & Iron plant in Pueblo, Colo. (source not recorded)

November 1985:
A summary of operations included information that Gilbert Construction Company (of Cedar City, Utah) was the new operator of the Iron Mountain iron mines, plus operational notes that Union Pacific picked up loaded iron ore cars on Thursdays at 4, p.m. The main iron mine was at Comstock. Other iron ore tipples were at Iron Springs, Deseret, Mound, and Iron Mountain. (Source??)

1988:
Geneva Steel's production of iron ore at the iron mines west of Cedar City for 1988 was an estimated 550,000 tons, with 1989 to be a slight increase. (ed. note: the reported annual total calculates to be about sixteen 90-ton railroad cars per day) (Deseret News, January 29, 1989)

1995:
The Iron Mountian was last operated in 1995 by Geneva Steel subsidiary Iron Ore Mines LLC.

October 1998:
In a system-wide reorganiztion of its operating divisions, Union Pacific changed its Iron Springs-to-Iron Mountain branch from the Comstock Branch to the Comstock Subdivision. Its line between the mainline at Lund, and Cedar City was changed from the Cedar City Branch to the new Cedar City Subdivision.

January 27, 2005:
Palladon began its acquisition of the iron ore properties in the vicinity of Cedar City. The property was previously owned by Iron Ore Mines, LLC. (Palladon news release) A later news release five days later clarified the definition of "reserves" and "historical estimates". (Palladon news release)

April 13, 2005:
Palladon completed its purchase of the iron ore properties near Cedar City. (Palladon news release)

August 26, 2005:
Palladon announced that Luxor Capital Partners had become an equal partner participant in the Iron Mountain Project, acquiring a full 50 percent interest, with Western Utah Copper giving up its original 35 percent, and Palladon reducing its interest from the original 65 percent, to 50 percent. This was in return for Luxor's assistance in restructuring the original $10.3 million loan that allowed Palladon and Western to purchase the Iron Mountain Project (actual name: Mountain Lion/Comstock Iron Project), along with Luxor contributing almost $2 million in financial support that would allow continued development of the Iron Mountain Project. Palladon was then to use $1.4 million to directly benefit its own interest in the continued development of Western Utah Copper's copper mine west of Milford. (Business Wire, August 27, 2005; Palladon press release)

May 2006:
Reports surfaced about a new Utah Southern Railroad having been organized in Utah to operate rail service along UP's Comstock Branch. Projected operations was to operate run-through UP motive power (using Utah Southern crews) to move approximately 2 million tons per year in 12,000 ton, 84-car unit trains. Operations were planned to begin in the third quarter of 2006. It was reported that Palladon and Utah Southern had already reached agreements on the needed rehabilitation of the trackage between the mines and the interchange point with UP at Iron Springs Junction, also known as Comstock Junction. (Trainorders.com, May 6, 2006)

More reports described the planned routing of the iron ore units trains from Iron Mountain. The planned route for about half the iron ore was by way of Donner Pass, then to the Port of Richmond (via Richmond Pacific) for loading into ships bound for China. The other half was to be moved to Portland for loading on ships. It was also reported that Utah Southern was owned by Mike Root, who also owned Albany & Eastern Railroad in Oregon, and that he had completed a hi-rail inspection of the line on April 20, 2006. The planned production rate from the mine was to allow the operation of 240 trains of 80 to 84 cars each. Utah Southern was to construct three train-length holding tracks at Iron Springs for interchange with UP. (Trainorders.com, May 4, 2006)

August 28, 2006:
Palladon Ventures announced that they had sold their first iron ore from the Iron Mountain project near Cedar City, Utah. The first order was a 500 ton shipment of crushed feed material to a cement industry customer, who trucked the material from the minesite. The material is from a stockpile holding approximately 100,000 tons of iron ore grading an average of 56 percent iron mineral. This material was mined, crushed, and stockpiled by Geneva Steel prior to the shutdown of their operations at Iron Mountain in 1996. (Palladon press release)

September 14, 2006:
Palladon Iron Corporation received federal Surface Transportation Board approval for its lease of Union Pacific's Iron Mountain Branch, running from Iron Springs station on UP's Cedar City Branch, south to the Comstock/Iron Mountain iron ore mines being developed by Palladon. On the same date, Palladon leased the branch for operation to the newly organized Iron Bull Railroad (IBR), controlled by Albany & Eastern Railroad (AERC), a shortline operating in Oregon's Willamette Valley. (STB Decision)

January 9, 2007:
Palladon sold their interest in the Western Utah Copper Project to their former joint venture partner, Western Utah Copper Company, for a reported $3 million in cash, and $10 million payable as royalties from the smelting of known reserves and newly discovered ore bodies. Palladon announced that the proceeds of the sale was to be used to pay down principal on the outstanding loan to Luxor Capital Partners on the debt outstanding for the Iron Mountain Project. (Palladon news release)

May 22, 2007:
Corriente Master Fund of Forth Worth, Texas, purchased 10 million shares of Palladon common stock, giving them 13.2 percent ownership of Palladon Ventures. The agreement also allowed Corriente to purchase interests in an additional 6.6 percent interest at a future date. (Corriente Advisors news release)

June 21, 2007:
Palladon Ventures announced that a five-year renewable contract had been executed with Holcim Inc., for the sale of iron ore materials used in the cement manufacturing process. Iron ore material was to be sold at the Comstock/Mountain Lion Mine at Iron Mountain, Utah, and shipped by truck by Holcim to their 800,000-ton capacity Devils Slide facility near Morgan, Utah. Holcim Ltd. is one of the leading global manufacturers and suppliers of cement, aggregates, and mineral components. Holcim Ltd. operates in over 70 countries around the world, employing over 90,000 people. In the United States, Holcim Inc. is one of the largest suppliers of Portland and blended cements, operating 14 manufacturing plants and over 70 distribution facilities, supplying more than 14 million metric tonnes of cement and related materials annually. (Palladon news release)

July 4, 2007:
Palladon Iron Corporation, a direct subsidiary of Palladon Ventures, Ltd., officially changed its name to Iron Bull Mining and Milling (Corporation?) (Company?). (Palladon news release)

July/August 2007:
The owners of Iron Bull Railroad also owned the Albany & Eastern Railroad (AERC) in Oregon. In early August 2007, they sold their interest in AERC to focus their activities on the further development of their Iron Bull interests in Utah, which was expected to begin operations during the third quarter of 2008. (Trainorders.com, July 26, 2007)

April 1, 2008:
Palladon Iron Corporation (PIC), has signed a long-term sales agreement with China Kingdom International Minerals & Metals Co., Ltd (CKI). The recent commodity price increases have made the sale of run-of-mine iron ore financially attractive, enabling PIC to contract for the immediate sale of run-of-mine iron ore, rather than await the financing and construction of a processing plant.

The five-year contract provides for the purchase by CKI and its Australian operating subsidiary, China Kingdom International Australia, of run-of-mine iron ore at an initial annual rate of 2,000,000 metric tonnes. The contract price is quoted FOB a west coast U.S. port, with CKI responsible for all ocean-going freight including the contracting and scheduling of ocean vessels.

The contract price for the initial period exceeds PIC's anticipated per ton operating and shipping costs, and the run-of-mine sales are expected to generate meaningful free cash flow for PIC. PIC estimates initial capital investment to be less than $5 million, with shipments expected to commence in the third quarter of this year. PIC is in the process of finalizing its mining plan and logistics plans for the start of operations at its Iron Mountain project in southwestern Utah. The electrical sub-station facility has been installed, grounded, and charged, and is ready to be connected to the Cedar City power grid. Mobilization for mining and shipping will begin shortly in anticipation of the pending shipping dates.

It is anticipated that PIC will reinvest some of the cash flow from the run-of-mine sales into a formal feasibility study to help finance the eventual construction of a processing plant on-site. When an iron ore concentrate processing plant is completed at Iron Mountain, the agreement with CKI contemplates modification to reflect the new product and pricing.

Based in Beijing, CKI is one of China"s leading importers of iron ore, with close ties to major global iron ore producers and Chinese steel manufacturers. (Palladon news release)

June/July 2008:
 Track rehabilitation should begin in early June with the first train moving sometime after July 15. Operating plan calls for 2 or more cuts per day to be loaded and brought down the hill. There is not enough room at the mine to load a whole train. Motive power will be SD40-2 locomotives. (Trainorders.com, May 16, 2008)

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