On several BW trips out of Ely, I have heard big booms. They sounded like aircraft sonic booms, but did not have the secondary boom.

Last year, one of my partners pointed out a Dupont test site located north of the North Arm of Burntside Lake. As a long time Y camper, he had heard the booming even as a child.

Do any of you denizens of Ely have more details? I assume it tests mining explosives.

Not a "denizen" of Ely, but I have put my share of trips/family vacations in -- in and around the Ely area. Fishing Opener-2013- Kawishiwi River about 3 miles N of Little Gabbro my fishing buddy and I heard what for sure was close -- cloud to ground LTG-- (thunder). It was deafening , like close LTG is. With weather moving in, but wasn't supposed to be this quick-- we headed back S to our camp at the "Hilton Site". Once in open water , away from the trees we could clearly see this was not a weather threat. Not even close. Had to be explosives used in mining-- I don't know what else it could have been.

Jobs, my friends- that there were the sound o' jobs! :)

The Dupont site (just past First Lake on the Echo Trail) has been inactive for at least twenty years. It has since been sub-divided and sold.

Well that explains what happened. I was camping on the north arm of Burnside 25 years ago and heard an explosion.

Agree. Explosives used for seismic exploration.

Do any of the gravel pits use explosives to quarry the stone?

Are you sure that mining companies are using explosives for seismics? Getting structure in hard rock environments would be challenging and many exploration firms prefer vibrators. Still, a mining company once paid me to do some explosive source seismology. We thought it was a bad approach but they needed to spend some money to maintain their stake and we needed the cash. So, we did it.

Sorry.....beans.....

from what i understand the mining companies are using core samples in the search for minerals. no blasting. most activity has been south and east of ely. i would guess that booming sounds, if from blasting, is related to construction.

military jets are a possibility.

I know of one granite quarry which is off of the Wanless Rd (FS172) about 12 miles east of Isabella. I have been to the quarry (I commented on the Forest Service's Draft Record of Decision. Being a geologist I was interested in what they planned on doing. Anyway, when they blast it is not loud, its more of a muffled big bang.You can hear it from the road, but if you were driving by, you may not even notice it. So I don't know where your loud booms are coming from, but I don't think it is from mining or quarrying explosions.

Muffled explosions are always the goal. Any sound is wasted energy that could have gone into breaking rocks in a quarry or seismic waves in an imaging experiment.

But sometimes things don't go quite as planned. I once was part of a group that made a big, unintended hole in the Mojave desert. We did full it back in.

And last year some road blasting on Pine rd near White Iron threw some rocks around in a rather unintended way. Fortunately no people or buildings were hit.

Thanks for all the info in this thread.

taconite mining in babbitt done correctly it is rather quiet considering. these are a riot to watch.

quote jwartman59: " taconite mining in babbitt done correctly it is rather quiet considering. these are a riot to watch."

I thought of taconite mines as well; I used to hunt deer about 12 miles from a taconite pit and we occasionally heard them blasting. I think the mines in Babbit are a little too far away--maybe twenty miles?

And misqua mentioned granite; there is also a granite quarry north of the New Tomahawk road, though that seems a little far to hear as well.

I work in a gravel pit in northeastern mn there's gold in every sample I've ever took.

In the latest Cuffs and Collars report of the Outdoor News it said loud explosions near Winton were attributed to somebody target shooting tannerite (spelling?). Anyway, it's something gun enthusiasts shoot at and when they hit it it goes BOOM! As if the sound of the gun itself isn't enough noise..

Don't get me wrong, I own several guns for hunting myself, but I can't for the life of me understand this new style of target shooter who feels they have to destroy everybody else's peace just for their own thrill??? I wish this tannerite stuff would be made illegal to the common target shooter at all but sanctioned target ranges.

CO Sean Williams (Ely) reports the warmer than average weather made for a very active ending weekend of the muzzleloader deer season. Although many hunters were observed and checked only a few deer were reported. Officer Williams responded to a dispatch call that a loud explosion was heard in the Winton area that had caused the reporting parties windows to shake and lights to flicker. After a short search two target shooters were found at the local shooting range that had used 4 pounds of tannerite to blow a tree in half.

Tannerite is some pretty wicked stuff. A placement the size of a soccer ball really makes a racket.

Its like the guy who drives through town with his car stereo as loud as it will go - just aan ego trip and/or calling out.

quote jwartman59: " taconite mining in babbitt done correctly, it is rather quiet considering. These are a riot to watch."

the mushroom cloud turns into a fish at the 21 second mark !

Tannerite is becoming/or will most likely soon become illegal on many Federal Lands. IE; BLM, USFS, and others, a few wildfires have been started with the use of Tannerite.

Tannerite Banned in North West

Tannerite.com

My Bad, Double Post