No cause of fire, reopen date on Soudan mine

A State Fire Marshal's report on the cause of the fire in the Soudan Underground Mine is expected within a week.

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources spokeswoman Amy Barrett says that until the report is complete, the state won't be able to say when the mine will reopen for tours. She says more than 1,800 tours of the underground mine and University of Minnesota's physics lab were given in 2010.

The marshal's report is expected to include the cost and extent of the damage to the mine facilities and physics lab. Officials have said they don't believe the lab was damaged. The fire was detected March 17 in timbers lining the mine's main elevator shaft. No one was inside at the time.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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