Bill seeks to protect Boundary Waters by restricting copper mining
Maleska was one of several testifiers in support of Senate File 1416, known as the "Prove It First" bill.It prohibits the state from issuing permits for a copper-sulfide mine before receiving ...
Minnesota DFL agrees to legislative hearings on copper-nickel mining …
A wild rice area in Flowage Lake, about 10 miles west and northwest of the proposed Talon sulfide mine in Tamarack, Minnesota. The wetlands directly west of the proposed mine are some of the most fertile wild rice fields in the entire state of Minnesota. ... Environmentalists argue sulfide ore mining presents too great a threat to the state's ...
Sulfide mining: the most fateful decision Minnesota will
Sulfide mining would destroy thousands of acres of habitat for loons in northeastern Minnesota, pollute lakes and streams, and create toxic pit waters, decimating loon populations throughout ...
A Spirited Land: Indigenous Tribes' Fight to Protect the …
This type of mining, never done before in Minnesota, has proven to be extremely damaging; a peer-reviewed report by Earthworks, an anti-mining advocacy group, studied fourteen sulfide-ore copper mines in the U.S. and found that thirteen had had significant impacts on water quality in their catchment areas.
Minnesota scientists call for a Tamarack region sulfide mining …
Minnesota rules require an environmental impact statement (EIS) for a new sulfide ore mine project. However, the proposal Talon Metals submitted in June 2023 to start this process only proposed to mine the first 225 acres of more than 31,000 acres of lands and mining leases that Talon controls.
Will Sulfide Mines Bring Employment and Economic …
"Sulfide mining" is a term used to refer to mining metals that are found in sulfide-bearing rock. In Minnesota, the sulfide mining proposals and exploration activities are focused primarily on extracting copper, nickel, platinum, palladium and gold. While the state has a history of iron mining, sulfide mining has never been conducted in
Metallic Sulfide Mining | Sierra Club
In fact, employment decreased by 83% at iron mines in Minnesota's iron range from 1979 to 2005. When the price of metals declines, mines must lay-off workers or shut down — making mining an extremely precarious and volatile industry. ... Metallic sulfide mining harms Native Americans and encroaches on their territories — violating ...
The Myth of Clean Mining in Minnesota
The mining industry and their allies often claim that copper-sulfide mining — the most toxic industry in the United States, which has a perfect record of polluting — can safely operate in a water-rich environment like northeastern Minnesota. ... This is the commonsense logic behind the Prove It First Bill, which simply states that before a ...
Minnesota nickel mine brings environmental promise, but …
But geologists with Kennecott, an arm of global mining giant Rio Tinto, began poking around in the early 2000s, after the state of Minnesota paid for some preliminary surveys in the 1970s. After ...
What's Next for PolyMet, Minnesota's First …
Taking the fight to court. In November 2018, then DNR commissioner Tom Landwehr issued the permits that would make PolyMet the first copper-sulfide mine in Minnesota's history. Then, when the …
Sulfide Mining & Voyageurs National Park
With two copper-nickel sulfide mining projects in progress in northeastern Minnesota, Voyageurs National Park Association stands opposed to proposed sulfide-ore copper mining. This type of mining has unacceptable health and environmental risks in such a water-rich area and poses a serious threat to our waters and to the ecosystems of the …
Stop the risk of damage to the Boundary Waters watershed …
The state of Minnesota is considering approval of mining activities in the watershed of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, the most accessible and heavily-used Wilderness in the United States, just months after the federal government determined that sulfide-ore copper mining in this watershed posed a threat of grave …
Protect the Boundary Waters from sulfide-ore copper mining.
Proposed sulfide-ore copper mining threatens these waters and forests. A copper mine in the Boundary Waters watershed will pollute the Wilderness for generations to come, causing irreversible harm to water quality, wildlife, public health, and a sustainable outdoor recreation-based economy. WHAT IS THE THREAT?
Terrestrial ecosystem impacts of sulfide mining
Scoping of potential impacts of Cu-Ni exploration and mining in sulfide ores are presented for the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW), Minnesota USA, an area of mostly boreal forest on thin soils and granitic bedrock.
MN DFL's divide on mining may come to a head at state …
The issue may come to a head this weekend, with what looks like a choice for the DFL — promote mining and union jobs, or protect the environment. DULUTH, Minn. — As the DFL convention in ...
Protect Minnesota's Waters from Copper Sulfide Mining
The risks from non-ferrous mining are vastly different from the traditional iron mining in Minnesota. Non-ferrous mining is the process of extracting trace amounts of copper, nickel and other metals from sulfide-bearing ores. This process produces sulfuric acid, which is the same as battery acid. In addition to acidifying lakes and rivers ...
In Minnesota, when it comes to pro-sulfide-mining rhetoric
On July 18, 2019, Twin Metals Minnesota suddenly announced it would use dry stacking for tailings waste at its proposed copper-nickel sulfide mine adjacent to Minnesota's Boundary Waters Canoe ...
Copper demand softens, adding further …
One of the main arguments in favor of copper-sulfide mining in northern Minnesota is that those metals will have a major role to play in the ongoing transition toward cleaner, greener energy sources. "The …
Protecting Minnesota from PolyMet's dangerous …
Minnesota law prohibits mining without reclamation and restoration of natural resources. Instead of requiring PolyMet to drain and reintegrate the mine tailings basin into the environment, the DNR permits would allow …
Local View: Greed never sleeps, so mining proposals persist …
In October, Twin Metals, a subsidiary of the Chilean-owned mining company Antofagasta, received state approval to pursue exploratory sulfide-ore drilling under Birch Lake, just upstream from the ...
Polymet Mining In The Boundary Waters (BWCA)
To cut costs, PolyMet Mining has proposed building a 250-foot tall dam to store 225 million tons of reactive mine waste. The same type of dam, designed by the same dam engineer, collapsed in Brumadinho Brazil, killing over 200 people. This type of dam construction has since been banned in Brazil.
Lake that flows to Boundary Waters placed on state's list of …
This week, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency placed Birch Lake and part of a river that flows into it on the state's list of impaired waters. The listing was based on data provided by ...
This report was made possible by funding from the C.S.
of sulfide mining. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS To assess the scope and effectiveness of sulfide mining regulation in the four jurisdictions (Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Ontario), the report analyzes five categories of information for each jurisdiction. The assessment categories are: 1.
Local View: Mining-threatened Boundary Waters remains a …
Over six years ago, Minnesota Backcountry Hunters & Anglers posted a " Top 10 Reasons " to stop the Twin Metals sulfide mining proposal to protect northern Minnesota's waterways, watersheds ...
Harms
Harmful Impacts of the PolyMet Sulfide Mine. It is widely recognized that sulfide mining in Minnesota would have devastating effects on our wilderness areas and water quality. Many Minnesotans recognize that sulfide mining has a dismal track record of 100 percent failure to protect water quality in a water-rich environment, like that of ...
Prove It First Law
Copper-sulfide mining is the greatest threat to Minnesota's clean water in decades. Before a copper-sulfide mine in Minnesota could be permitted, the Prove It First Law would require independent scientific proof that a copper-sulfide mine has operated elsewhere in the United States for at least ten years without causing pollution and that …
Sulfide Ore Mining in the Boundary Waters
Sulfide Ore Mining in Minnesota. Currently, the BWCA is being threatened by sulfide-ore mining, a process that will cause catastrophic problems to the ecosystem and the economy. ... Metallic sulfide mining is the process of extracting metals such as nickel, gold, and copper from sulfide-rich ore. After extracting metal from the rock, the waste ...
DFL senator calls lack of hearing for 'Prove It First' mining …
That anger stems from the lack of a hearing in the Senate on SF 1416, known as the "Prove It First" bill, which states that before a copper-sulfide mine in Minnesota can be permitted, there must ...
Protect the Boundary Waters Wilderness from Sulfide Mining
The U.S. Forest Service has released an assessment recommending a 20-year ban on sulfide-ore copper-nickel mining on 225,000 acres of federal land surrounding the Boundary Waters, and is taking public comments until August 31, 2022. Sulfide mining releases a toxic mix of sulfuric acid and heavy metals. It is unacceptably risky in the …
Pros And Cons Of Sulfide Mining
Sulfide mining has a bad effect on both the economy and the environment. Sulfide mining is the process of removing copper, nickel, and other metals from sulfide ores. Minnesota 's traditional iron ore mining and sulfide mining are two very different types of mining. Sulfide mining has more environmental risks than Minnesota 's traditional iron ...