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Employee dies at Ishpeming mine

ISHPEMING, MI--   An employee of the Tilden mine has died in a work-related fall near the concentrator.

Cliffs Natural Resources says Gary Hytinen, 61, of Ishpeming was working as a reagent handler in the  

unloading area Friday around 1:45 p.m. when he apparently fell from a railroad tanker car to the ground.  Company emergency medical technicians and Bell Hospital EMS responded to the scene.  Hytinen was transported to Bell, where he was pronounced dead. 

Hytinen had worked for Cliffs for 39 years as a general laborer, conveyor attendant, bulldozer operator and concentrating plant attendant before his most recent position. 

Cliffs Natural Resources and the United Steelworkers Union have begun a joint investigation into the accident.  Officials have also notified the U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration and the Marquette County mine inspector. 

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Nicole was born near Detroit but has lived in the U.P. most of her life. She graduated from Marquette Senior High School and attended Michigan State and Northern Michigan Universities, graduating from NMU in 1993 with a degree in English.