PALMER -- Tuesday's storm-related power outages have become an afterthought to most who were impacted.  But things still aren't back to normal at Cliffs Natural Resources Empire and Tilden mine sites.  They lost power early Tuesday.  Thursday, they're still not running at full capacity and won't be until We Energies in Marquette is able to restore full power.

They are currently able to make pellets at both facilities but at a significantly reduced rate.  Dale Hemmila of Cliffs Natural Resources refers to the initial total outage as a 'hard down" because they weren't able to prepare.

"It takes our equipment down; it's not easy to bring back up," says Hemmila.  "It's not like flicking the switch.  There's a lot of things that have to take place to get the equipment back in operating mode."

The last time they experienced a power outage like this was due to flooding of We Energies in May 2003.

They'll have to make up for lost production, but they already operate on a 24-hours-a-day basis.

We Energies says progress is being made to restore full capacity, they estimate the power could be restored as early as Friday.