Tours resume at Soudan mine after fire
TOWER, Minn. (AP) -- The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources says tours will resume Saturday at Soudan Underground Mine State Park near Tower.
The tours were suspended last season after a March 2011 fire in the mine shaft damaged wood timbers.
Park Manager Jim Essig says cleanup and repair of the mine shaft is complete. Essig says visitors were disappointed they couldn't visit the underground portion of the mine last summer, so the park expects more than its normal 34,000 visitors this year.
Tours for the 2012 season run daily from May 26 through Sept. 30, and weekends in October until Oct. 21. Three different tours are available -- the underground mine, the University of Minnesota's high-energy physics lab, and a free, self-guided surface tour.
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