MINNEAPOLIS — A final report to the Legislature on a six-year, $4.9 million University of Minnesota study says the state’s taconite workers face higher risks from a rare form of lung cancer called mesothelioma the longer they’ve worked in the industry or if they’ve had above-average exposures to certain kinds of dust.

The study assessed the risks to taconite workers from exposure to tiny, needle-like fibers called elongate mineral particles, or EMPs. Mesothelioma, a usually fatal cancer of the lung lining, is generally caused by exposure to airborne asbestos fibers.

Lawmakers commissioned the study after a spike in the cancer was found on the Iron Range in 2006. Researchers planned to present the final report at a community meeting in Hibbing on Monday.

Many of the key conclusions from the study were in a preliminary report in April 2013, including that taconite workers had triple the death rate from mesothelioma than ordinary Minnesota residents. Taconite workers also died at higher rates from more common kinds of lung cancer and heart disease at higher rates, they found.

The final report adds a closer look at the role of EMP exposure levels in taconite workers’ risks of mesothelioma as well as the role these exposures might play in other diseases, principal investigator Jeffrey Mandel said.