Mining Event Protested by Activists/Retired Miner

April 16, 2011

from Wisconsin Public Radio, via the Ashland Current:

Environmental activists protested the mining industry on Wednesday while hundreds of people gathered for the annual mining conference at the DECC in Dululth. Read the rest of this entry »


Mining Rush Next to Boundary Waters

April 16, 2011

from the Star Tribune:

On the hunt for copper and other valuable metals, five exploration companies hope to prospect on 44,000 acres of the Superior National Forest near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area over the next two decades. Read the rest of this entry »


Minnesota Further Weakens Laws Regulating Mining Industry

March 6, 2011

It’s getting easier all the time for a mining company to say it can follow the law, especially when the law is constantly tailored to suit their direct interests.  Taconite mining operations in Minnesota have been violating water protection laws for decades, including a standard regulating sulfates, which kill wild rice stands.  State Representative Tom Rukavina says “we don’t have any idea” what a safe level is but if the law is finally enforced, it will harm taconite mining corporations and new Canadian corporations trying to mine in Minnesota.  Rukavina said the new sulfate standard should be 25 times what it is now. Read the rest of this entry »


Duluth Metals-Franconia Merge as Regulation Weakens

March 6, 2011

Twin Metals’ proposed mine, outside the Boundary Waters, is already expanding and will now benefit from weakened state regulation, featuring reduced permitting costs and speedy approvals.

Lawmakers and regulators held a meeting last week intended to help expedite PolyMet’s Hoyt Lakes copper project.  The company’s draft Environmental Impact Statement earlier stood out for the EPA, which said it was one of the worst plans they had ever reviewed.

Nonetheless, lawmakers and the governor are intent on making it as easy as possible for the mining industry.  Last week Governor Dayton signed legislation giving mining companies responsibility to do their own environmental assessments, similar to what Michigan’s “Part 632″ law allows.  This allows a company to avoid the more stringent oversight offered by an independent federal environmental assessment. Read the rest of this entry »


New Minnesota Exploration Near International Falls

February 14, 2011

Adapted from a Prime Meridian news release:

Prime Meridian Resources announces that it has entered into a Letter of Intent (“LOI”) with Wolfden Resources, a private company, to conclude a joint venture for the Winterfire project, located approximately 50 kilometers west of the town of International Falls, in Minnesota.  A drill program budgeted at approximately US $400,000.00 with a minimum of three holes and 2,000 feet is planned to begin this week. Read the rest of this entry »


PolyMet Drops Plan to Process at Hoyt Lakes Plant

February 3, 2011

from Duluth News Tribune:

PolyMet Mining Corp. announced Wednesday that it no longer plans to produce finished copper metal at its planned processing plant near Hoyt Lakes, a move that will reduce startup costs by a fifth and the number of long-term jobs by a tenth. Read the rest of this entry »


Record prices boost Minnesota’s copper-nickel projects

February 3, 2011

from Minnesota Public Radio’s Bob Kelleher:

Record prices for copper are helping to fuel controversial new efforts to mine the red metal in Northern Minnesota.

Copper set new records earlier this year and continues trading near record highs of over $4.40 a pound, pushing cash into northeast Minnesota’s developing copper-nickel projects. Read the rest of this entry »


More Revolving Door Action in Minnesota

January 25, 2011

from Minnesota Public Radio:

Brad Moore, a commissioner for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency under Tim Pawlenty, has been hired to be a lobbyist for PolyMet Mining Corporation. Read the rest of this entry »


2 Minnesota Miners Plan to Merge

December 27, 2010

from the Duluth News Tribune:

Duluth Metals Ltd. and Franconia Minerals Corp. announced an agreement today under which Duluth Metals will acquire 100 percent of Franconia’s outstanding common shares. Read the rest of this entry »


PolyMet Caught Lying; Mine Plan Bad As It Gets

March 9, 2010

In February, the US Environmental Protection Agency issued a strong condemnation of the environmental review of PolyMet’s proposed NorthMet mine.  The project, and its environmental review have been heartily endorsed by state and federal politicians, including US Senator Al Franken and US Representative James Oberstar.

According to EPA statistics, PolyMet’s “draft environmental impact statement,” (DEIS) is incredibly incompetent.  Less than 0.4% of all such reviews obtain such a bottom-of-the-barrel rating.

Disturbingly, PolyMet’s amateurish DEIS was conducted by a firm working with Aquila Resources to develop a zinc-gold mine on the Menominee River, in Michigan.   Read the rest of this entry »


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