A battle over mining/Ely

[Lee Borgersen]

               A battle over mining in Ely

Listen to full audio here: 
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/www_publicradio/tools/media_player/syndicate.php?name=minnesota/news/features/2013/05/31/ely_20130531_64
 
ELY — The polarizing divide over the future of mining around Ely will be on display this weekend, when an anti-mining group opens shop on Sheridan Street, the canoeing mecca’s main drag.


Workers in the new center, dubbed "Sustainable Ely," will encourage tourists to take action urging President Obama to protect the region’s environment from copper-nickel mining. They also want people to urge the Dayton Administration to expand a mining protection zone around the Boundary Waters Canoe Area.

Down the street from tourist shops like Mostly Moose and Loony’s Northwoods Emporium, the new center houses a shiny Wenonah canoe dotted with several signatures scrawled in black marker. Anti-mining activists aim to gather thousands more.

"We hope to portage this down the mall in Washington, D.C., and present it to President Obama, and ask him to protect the Boundary Waters watershed from sulfide ore mining," said Becky Rom, a retired attorney who is among nearly 100 contributors to the center.

Although the center’s organizers see mining as a major environmental threat, many in town believe copper nickel mining can be done safely and jumpstart the region’s economy.

About a dozen miles southeast of Ely, Twin Metals Minnesota has proposed a massive underground mine in an area estimated to contain more than $100 billion worth of copper, nickel and precious metals. The company has been drilling in the region for years but its proposed operation is still in the planning stages.

Rom’s husband, Reid Carron, said some area residents are concerned that, when mines expose copper bearing sulfide ore to air and water, acidic runoff could pollute the Boundary Waters.

"I don’t want copper mining to occur in what is truly a priceless water based ecosystem. There are some places that you simply shouldn’t extract copper. The clean water we have here is infinitely more valuable than any amount of metals that will ever be pulled out of the ground in Northeast Minnesota."

But Twin Metals sits on one of the largest untapped copper reserves in the world. With that in mind, Nancy McReady, president of Conservationists with Common Sense, said mining companies have to mine where the resources are.

"For the last 100 some years we have mined this area," she said of the iron ore and taconite mining operations long done near Ely. "Yeah, it was a different form of mining. But we have taken care of the environment."

McReady and other local supporters of mining, are convinced new technology and an exacting regulatory process will ensure that any mining project is safe before it proceeds.

"I don’t think anyone’s going to let them open up if they can’t be done safely," said Mary Tome, a supervisor in Fall Lake Township, just outside Ely. "So I guess I get frustrated when I see efforts by people that are totally anti-mining."

Tome, who lives on Farm Lake, downstream from Twin Metals, doesn’t own a well; she pulls water directly from the lake.

"So where that water would run to, I drink it. And I’m not afraid of that."

Tome and others also crave the hundreds of good-paying jobs new mines could bring. When she moved to the area 40 years ago, there were no empty storefronts and houses dotting Ely as there are today.

"Stores stayed open year round," she said of that era. "They didn’t shut up the doors after Labor Day. And I think we really do need it, we need more people to come into town."

The mining debate in Ely has played out on the letters pages of the town’s two weekly papers, The Ely Echo and The Timberjay. The discussion can grow heated, but locals say that’s not necessarily reflective of the whole community.

Canoe outfitter Steve Piragis, who bought the house on Sheridan Street for the new mining center, said he’s received mostly positive feedback. Although he acknowledges that mining was a boom for Ely in the past, he said there is a downside to depending the industry.

"But it’s always followed by a downturn, and it’s the downturns that are hard to recover from," Piragis said. "And tourism and retirement homes and all the other things that go on outside of mining, are steady."

Ely’s tourism industry is not only steady, but growing, said Bill Forsberg, who owns Timber Trail Lodge and Boundary Waters Outfitters.

Forsberg, also past president of the Ely Chamber of Commerce, said the city’s lodging tax revenues have doubled in the past dozen years.

"So tourism is definitely alive and well in Ely," he said. "We have as many if not more people coming to Ely today to recreate and vacation as we ever have before."

The question for many in northern Minnesota is whether that tourism economy can coexist with new copper-nickel mines.

Forsberg doesn’t think the proposed mining operation is worth the environmental risk.

Twin Metals officials, however, contend the company can safely extract copper, nickel and other precious metals like palladium without harming the environment.

Bob McFarlin, vice president of public and government affairs for Twin Metals Minnesota, said Ely doesn’t have to take the mining company’s word for it. The project will go through a rigorous environmental review that will likely last several years.

"We believe and are strongly committed to protecting the environment and we believe we can protect the environment with our projects, and provide great economic benefit to the region," McFarlin said. "But we’re not the ones that make that decision. We propose the project, and the regulatory agencies at the federal and state level will determine whether our project can move forward."

[BDub]

Hi Lee. It's been a while since I've been on this forum. Always fighting the good fight takes a lot of time. Thanks for post this article. I think Dan Kraker did a great job. I especially like that he called the 'Sustainable Ely Center' what it really is... an anti-mining center. Absolutely no information will be given about the largest copper/nickel deposit in the world, nor will there be any information or suggestions on how to bring other good paying jobs to the Ely area.

As for Becky Rom, she graduated from Ely Memorial High School in 1967 with my sister. If tourism for Ely and the Boundary Waters is so sustainable, why did you leave and take nearly 50 years to return? If tourism is so great, why did the Rom family sell their canoe outfitting business in 1975, just when things were heating up about the Boundary Waters? Why didn't she stick around after '78 BWCA Wilderness Act that the Friends basically wrote and she was on the Friends board? Others are honest. They left Ely because they couldn't make a living here to raise a family and went elsewhere, and they come back after retirement.

[kenhuntin]

Yes The Lions share of the once proud Iron Rangers Have moved away to find work in the big cities.
 With God given resources for prosperity, self reliance and a source of new pride to the region just  below the feet of the hippies up there. They believe they are better off by weaving and peddling sandals made of dope stalks. 
 Perhaps they need a little common sense therapy. I bet lashing them onto one of those 90 foot windmill rotors and letting them ride that devil for a couple days would correct that malady.

[Lee Borgersen]

St. Paul representative's bill would restrict mining in BWCAW watershed

 Apr 14, 2015
 
U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum on Tuesday said she will introduce legislation this week to prevent copper-mine runoff from damaging the northern Minnesota watershed that flows into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and on into Voyageurs National Park.


 
The Twin Cities Democrat said the threat of acidic mining runoff from proposed mines in the region is too great to allow any problem to develop.

“Ensuring that the water flowing into Voyageurs and the BWCA is as clean and clear as the water inside these protected areas will not happen without direct action from Congress and the Obama administration,” McCollum said in a statement sent to reporters Tuesday. “This week I will introduce legislation to do just that — extend additional protections to prevent mining-related pollution from destroying these two treasures.”

According to McCollum and staff, the bill — called the National Park and Wilderness Waters Protection Act — would withdraw unleased federal lands in the BWCAW/Rainy River watershed from the federal mineral-leasing program, with no new mining leases allowed.

Where federal mineral leases already exist, the bill will require “modern, enforceable environmental standards to be met.” Violation of those standards would trigger the suspension of those mining activities.

While several companies have been exploring for copper, nickel and other valuable metals in the area, Twin Metals Minnesota is the only one so far to propose a project in the BWCAW watershed. The company plans a large underground mining operation east of Ely along the Kawishiwi River, which ultimately flows into the BWCAW and on north. Much of the land under which Twin Metals would mine is U.S. Forest Service property under the federal mineral-lease program. The mine would be just outside the BWCAW.

Twin Metals officials have repeatedly said they will abide by all state and federal water-quality regulations and that the BWCAW will not be affected by the mine.

“Twin Metals Minnesota strongly opposes legislation being prepared by Congresswoman Betty McCollum that would withdraw federal minerals from future leasing and development within more than 11,000 square miles of the Rainy River Basin in northern Minnesota,’’ said Bob McFarlin, Twin Metals spokesman. Closing off feral lands in the area to mining “would have a devastating impact on future job growth and the overall economy across the Iron Range and throughout northern Minnesota. Especially devastating would be the loss of billions of dollars in potential revenues to the Minnesota Permanent School Trust Fund.”

The company has said it is still about two years away from submitting any proposal for environmental review but has already suggested it would process its ore outside the BWCAW watershed.

But McCollum said copper mining and potentially highly acidic runoff into waterways from those mining operations “poses a direct threat to the waters of Voyageurs and BWCA.”

“If sulfide-ore mining is allowed to take place on federal lands in the Rainy River Drainage Basin ‘acid mine drainage’ will endanger Voyageurs’ and BWCA’s fragile water ecosystem, as well as the tourism economy they support,’’ she said.

The legislation may find some support from environmental groups but it faces an uphill climb in the Republican-controlled House and Senate. Several members of Minnesota’s congressional delegation are likely to oppose it. Steve Johnson, spokesman for U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan, D-Crosby, said the northern Minnesota Democrat hasn’t seen the bill yet.

“We understand from Congresswoman McCollum’s office that the bill is still being finalized. Congressman Nolan will want to read and review it thoroughly before commenting,” Johnson said.

Opponents of copper mining said McCollum’s bill is overdue.

“This act is crucial to protecting large portions of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and Voyageurs National Park from acid mine drainage,” said Becky Rom of Ely, chairwoman of the Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters. “Allowing industrialized mining on the edge of the Boundary Waters would not only pollute water, it would also destroy National Forest lands in areas now used for hunting, fishing, snowmobiling, dogsledding, hiking, skiing, canoeing, logging and other activities.”

[greatoutdoors]

The enviros launch another scare tactic on the public, to prevent jobs from coming to Northeastern Minnesota.
They will do or say anything to advance their agenda, and truth is just an inconvenience that gets tossed to the side in the process. 
I hope certain people begin to notice the political party that carries water for these groups, and vote accordingly in the next election!   

[Lee Borgersen]

 




PolyMet CEO: Copper can help Iron Range diversify




 



You could understand why the mood might be dour at the annual Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration conference in Duluth this week.

 



With the price of iron ore less than half what it was when last year's conference was held, layoffs rampant and foreign steel flooding the U.S.economy, the 600 or more regional mining industry folks gathered here weren't exactly whooping it up.

But Jon Cherry, president and chief executive officer of PolyMet Minerals, said copper may be the balm that soothes what ails northern Minnesota's mining industry.

Iron ore that sold for $180 per ton in 2011 and $100 one year ago now is going for about $47. And while Cherry said he understands his brothers and sisters in the iron ore mining industry are facing "difficult challenges" with predictions of sub-$40-per-ton iron ore prices, he was happy to proclaim that "these are exciting times for PolyMet" and copper in Minnesota.


Cherry, the conference's closing plenary speaker, said his company is projecting that both global supply and demand for copper will remain relatively stable through 2017 before both start to increase. In the meantime, he predicts stable prices, and nothing like the free-fall of iron ore prices, on the horizon for copper.

Demand for copper has grown by an average of 3 percent annually over the past 30 years, with only two years - 1990 and 2001 - where it didn't go up, Cherry said. Moreover, global supply, while predicted to increase with new mines, has remained mostly flat, leaving the market "in balance."


Building a copper mining industry in Minnesota will help smooth out the ups and downs of the iron ore industry that is much more cyclical, Cherry told the conference

"The opportunity to diversify and bring more metals into the mining economy up here is a great opportunity" for Northeastern Minnesota, Cherry said.

Once it's up and running, and that could be within two years, the proposed PolyMet copper mine and processing center near Hoyt Lakes would have a $500 million economic impact on the region each year for 20 years or more.

"That's like a Super Bowl coming to St. Louis County every year for the next 20 years. And that's just PolyMet. That's not including any other'' proposed  copper projects.

Cherry said demand for copper will only intensify as emerging economies in China, Brazil and India turn more of their citizens into middle-class consumers demanding housing, electricity, vehicles, smartphones and jobs - all of which need a lot of copper.


Combined with increased use in the U.S. from renewable energy, mainly wind and solar, Cherry sees solid demand for whatever copper PolyMet might produce.

So far, Cherry's assessment of copper's fate seems close. Copper sat at about $2.74 per pound Wednesday, up from a recent low of $2.45 in January although still down 40 percent from the post-recession high of $4.50 in 2011. But copper remains well above the long-term average of $1 to $1.50 per pound in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Copper industry analysts have been saying copper prices heavily depend on the Chinese economy. China uses about 45 percent of all copper mined in the world.

But not everyone agrees with Cherry that copper supply and demand are in equilibrium. The Thomson Reuters GFMS copper report issued Wednesday predicted that increasing production and softer demand growth would lead to a nearly 400,000 metric ton overcapacity of copper this year, up from a surplus of 316,000 tons last year.

"While we remain cautious of the risks, our central view is that the market's oversupplied position is likely to become increasingly apparent in the coming months as demand growth disappoints and supply rises,'' the report notes.

Cherry said he expects to see his project's final environmental review released by June with permits issued for the PolyMet project later this year. He said the company is advancing engineering of the project and is talking with multiple banks about loans to build the project quickly after permits are approved.

The annual Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration conference was held at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center. The three-day event that ended Wednesday attracted mining industry officials, engineers, students, researchers, suppliers and vendors from across the region.

[glenn57]

this will affect out trade ALOT!!!!!!!!!! that's right lotz of good union jobs!!!!!!

[greatoutdoors]

Sure are a lot of jobs on the line, just like the Keystone Pipeline.
The reporters say that the mine will only exist for 20-30 years, when the ore will actually support jobs for almost 100 years. (another minor oversight by the anti mining types)
It's time people realize that the party that claims to support the workers, is the same party that fights all of these well paying jobs!!

[Lee Borgersen]

  Duluth hearing draws supporters, critics of proposed ban near BWCAW

3/16/17


  .............
The federal agencies responsible for a proposed mining ban near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness got an earful Thursday from supporters and opponents gathered at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center.

The U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management heard more than two hours of public input on the plan to stop Twin Metals and other companies from exploring or mining on 235,000 acres just outside the federal wilderness.

Twin Metals wants to dig a massive underground mine along the Kawishiwi River just southeast of Ely that would employ about 800 people. But the agencies decided in December that copper-nickel mining in that area stands too high a chance of spurring mining waste or mine runoff that could ?  damage the region's sensitive lakes and streams.

The agencies denied Twin Metals’ federal exploration leases for the area where the mine was to be located. They also proposed a two-year moratorium on mining in the area and an ecological study of potential mining impacts. more.......


Most of the DECC’s Symphony Hall’s 1,400 main-floor seats were filled for the event with more than two hours of testimony, at three minutes per person. Written comments will be accepted through Aug. 17 and Forest Service officials say they expect another public meeting will be held on the Iron Range sometime before then.

Mining critics praised the federal action, taken in the last days of the Obama administration, saying it will allow for a thorough scientific review before it’s too late to stop the project.

“We fully support the withdrawal of mineral leases in the Rainy River watershed," said Rich Staffon, president of the Duluth chapter of the Izaak Walton League of America, adding that the two-year study would allow time to determine “what damage a copper-nickel industry will do to the Boundary Waters.”

Staffon said the region is being lured into accepting copper mining by the “carrot” of jobs, but that it remains uncertain what will happen to the region’s lakes and streams “if we bite the carrot.”


Mining supporters said the Forest Service and BLM have overstepped their authority, scuttling the Twin Metals project even before it submitted any mining plan for review.

“They're years away from having a mining plan yet the rug has been pulled out from under them,” said Nancy McReady of Ely. (Bdub)IS A member of MNO

Mining supporters are hoping the new Trump administration in charge of the federal agencies will quickly overturn the decision and allow Twin Metals to continue exploring and proceed toward the environmental review and permitting phase. But, until then, they are pushing to have the Obama-era decision reversed.

Harry Melander, president of the Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Council, called the federal action “mission creep” by agencies that are denying his members good-paying jobs building the mine.

“We build … but we also fish, hunt, camp and canoe," Melander said. “We need to give companies the opportunity to show they can do it right.”

Kevin Baker, attorney for Twin Metals, went further.


“This proposal is illegal,” Baker said. Baker and others said the mining moratorium contradicts Congressional intent for the Superior National Forest that has always called for mineral development outside the BWCAW.

Joe Baltich of Ely, a founder of Up North Jobs, a pro-mining group, said copper-mine opponents are basing their fears on decades-old history of failed mines in other regions.

“This is 2017. We have modern mining techniques," Baltich said.

Baltich was among a chorus of longtime Ely and Iron Range residents who said the mining moratorium is just another step in federal control over their region, much like the creation of the federal wilderness that closed resorts and moved motors out of the Boundary Waters. Baltich vowed that local mining supporters wouldn't lose this fight.

“I’m angry. We’re organized. And, this time, we’re going to win," he said.

Mining opponents praised the Forest Service assessment that copper mining in the BWCAW watershed and so near the wilderness may — on its face and even before details of the project are clear — not be compatible with the mission of the BWCAW or with the region's thriving,  lake-based tourism industry.

“The natural landscape is what drives our economy. It’s what makes us different,” said Dave Seaton, owner of Hungry Jack Outfitters on the Gunflint Trail. “Clean water is more valuable than copper.”

Ely outfitter Jason Zabokrtsky said he had clients come from 44 states and nine countries in 2016 because they can catch big fish, drink water out of the lakes, watch stars at night and hear loons call.

Those guests “don't travel those distances to paddle in polluted waters or listen to mining activity,” he said.

But others said Ely and the region can’t survive on part-time or low-wage tourism-based jobs and that copper mining offers families a chance at a decent living.

Julie Lucas said not only could copper mining help the local economy, but it could support environmental stewardship by supplying minerals for wind and solar energy. Lucans, an environmental engineer at Hibbing Taconite, said Minnesota’s regulators and its people will demand that the mining is done right and that all watersheds are protected.

“Green technologies are all about copper, nickel and gold,” Lucas said. “I would rather have this in my backyard. Green technologies should come from green mining.”

Twin Metals Minnesota is a wholly owned subsidiary of Chilean mining conglomerate Antofagasta. The proposed underground mine is in the Rainy River watershed that flows north through the BWCAW and into Canada. It’s estimated to cost about $2.8 billion and would be much larger than the proposed PolyMet copper mine about 35 miles to the south, which is in the St. Louis River watershed that flows into Lake Superior.

Twin Metals has yet to submit any proposal for environmental review, although a pre-feasibility study suggested the mine could be very profitable by extracting and processing copper, nickel, gold, silver and other valuable metals.

To see the federal mining moratorium proposal go to fs.usda.gov/superior and click on the “Withdrawal of Federal Minerals in Rainy River Watershed from Exploration and Development” project page. Comments may be submitted via email to: comments-eastern-superior@fs.fed.us. The public comment period has been extended to Aug. 17.

[Lee Borgersen]

                                  "Land appraisal"

Forest Service leaves banana peel that could trip up PolyMet’s plans

March 18, 2017   

  .....
PolyMet officials should be livid. The company’s plans to open their copper-nickel mine near Hoyt Lakes could run aground as a result of a federal appraisal for their land exchange that is quite simply a head scratcher.
 
 tut_tut-3315.gif .....
For years, the Forest Service denied Freedom of Information Act requests for copies of the appraisal, including one from this newspaper. After obtaining a copy from another source, we can understand why the agency preferred to keep the document, prepared by a Wisconsin-based appraisal company, under wraps. It’s stated valuation of $550 an acre for the federal land that PolyMet is seeking is poorly justified and is so far below any comparable sales in the region that it simply doesn’t pass the smell test. “Not credible” is how a Minnesota-based appraisal firm put it in their review of the document. Water Legacy, which is suing alleging that the federal land was undervalued, commissioned that review, but that doesn’t mean its conclusions are not valid.
 
  ..
As we report this week, the appraiser who completed the federal valuation concluded that the land had such limited value because it was only usable for timber production, a remarkable conclusion considering that the purpose of the exchange is to facilitate a copper-nickel and precious metals mine. Federal appraisal rules require that the planned use of the land under consideration for exchange must be considered in the appraisal process. That means the land should have been appraised as mineland, which typically sells for significantly more than timberland.
 
  ..
Even timberland typically sells for more than $550 an acre, even in large tracts. Indeed, the company that produced the appraisal did look at some recent comparable purchases by mining companies in other parts of the Superior National Forest in St. Louis and Lake counties, and those sales, which included purchases of comparable size tracts, went for an average of $1,645 an acre. And these lands weren’t known to hold valuable minerals. They were just scattered forest tracts purchased for potential land exchange or wetland replacement. But the appraiser disregarded those comparable sales, suggesting that the buyers were “highly motivated.” We believe the same could be said of PolyMet, since without the land exchange with the Forest Service, their mine proposal may be unable to go forward.

  ....
It gets worse, since the review commissioned by Water Legacy looked at purchases of surface rights by Kennecott Mining in Aitkin County, where the company is pursuing an identified copper deposit. In other words, it’s in the same situation as PolyMet, except it’s acquiring private land rather than public. In Aitkin County, the company is paying an average of $3,685 an acre.

Under federal rules, public lands have to be sold for their appraised value, but that is supposed to be based on a fair market price, and what the market will bear is typically determined by comparable sales. Those rules were put in place to prevent “sweetheart deals,” which is exactly the accusation in this case. One thing is for sure, no private landowner in a similar situation would let lands sitting atop a multi-billion-dollar mineral deposit go for $550 an acre. Nor would they exchange their valuable mineland acre-for-acre for run-of-the-mill timberland, much less for the thousands of acres of swamp near Hay Lake, north of Virginia, that the public is actually receiving from PolyMet. Not in a million years.

So why should PolyMet be upset about a getting a great deal? Because the “deal” threatens to throw a monkey wrench in the company’s plans. While any number of technical issues, such as lack of standing, can derail a lawsuit in federal court, the Water Legacy suit could get traction because the appraisal appears to be so flawed. If so, PolyMet won’t have the option of just shelling out more money for the Forest Service property it needs for its planned mine. The federal government can only exchange land, so the company would have to begin the process of buying up thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of acres of private land to accommodate the exchange. That would take considerable time, and may not even be possible. Then, a new appraisal would need to be completed and a new federal decision-making process would be required. The whole process could take years.

Which could quickly turn a sweetheart deal into a very costly fiasco.