Cliff’s gives teachers inside tour of mines

Some students may have had today off, but that didn’t mean the teachers were free for the weekend yet.

Cliffs Natural Resources hosted a one–day environmental workshop for Marquette County schoolteachers. The event focused on how water is used in the mining process, where they get the water and how it is reused and recycled.

Cliffs officials believe this will benefit students greatly when they graduate and begin the job search.

“We have a very good environmentally story to tell at Cliffs,” Cliffs Natural Resources public affairs manager Jennifer Huetter said. “Working and being engaged in our community is something very important to us as a company. We’re able to give these teachers all of this additional knowledge about mining and how we use water. They can take that information back into the classrooms and share it with their students. So it really does come full circle.”

It’s not only the students who will benefit from the workshop. The workshop also gave the teachers a better understanding of mining operations in Upper Michigan as well.

“Well this is a valuable experience for all educators in the area,” Negaunee geography teacher Mark Churchill said.  “The four districts in the area got to view the mining operations that goes on. It’s something that we don’t get to see. We know that a lot of parents and relatives of our students work here and are associated with it. It’s such a backbone in our community. It’s important.”

Cliffs offers the teachers workshop once a year. With increased knowledge of how the mines operate, teachers will be able to better teach thier students about a wide variety of different subjects.