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Minnesota Duluth Complex and Iron Range

Canadian mine disaster raises tough questions about Minnesota nonferrous mines – by Aaron Brown (Minneapolis Star Tribune – August 7, 2014)

http://www.startribune.com/

Sometime in the middle of the night on Monday, Aug. 4, the dam holding together a tailings basin at a British Columbian copper and gold mine gave way, sending 1.3 billion gallons of tainted, sludgy water into local streams and lakes.

Officials tell residents in the closest town, Likely, B.C., not to use the water from several lakes and rivers near the Mount Polley Mine, including a precautionary ban stretching all the way to the well-known Fraser River. (And no, “Likely” is not a made-up name from a ham-handed eco-novel. It’s a real town named for an old mining boss named John A. Likely). Mount Polley is operated by Imperial Metals of Vancouver.

The CBC reports that Canadian and provincial officials now assess the full extent of the damage and how something like this even happened. Global News is reporting that Mount Polley Mine employees are saying that tailings pond breaches have happened before, just never to this extent. Meantime, the breach compromises the town’s drinking water and sidelines its tourism economy, which had co-existed with mining, for an indeterminate amount of time. Possibly a very long time.

Already, copper mining critics cite this disaster as Exhibit A that these mines threaten local ecosystems. Many here in Minnesota wonder: if this tailings pond breach can happen at an active mine in Canada, where regulations are similarly stringent to U.S. law, how on earth can we be confident in a tailings pond at a proposed nonferrous mine in northern Minnesota? After all, those tailings basins are supposed to last 500 years, according to PolyMet’s own Environmental Impact Statement estimates.

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Expanding iron mine returns Minnesota to its road-moving ways – by Dan Kraker (Minnesota Public Radio News – July 30, 2014)

http://www.brainerddispatch.com/

Virginia – Every day, 10,000 cars zip along Highway 53, one of the Iron Range’s most vital transportation arteries.

Just a few hundred feet from the roadway, between Virginia and Eveleth, hidden by a strip of trees, the earth falls away into a mammoth mine pit, where four-story tall trucks scrape red ore out of the ground. The proximity of the road to the excavation site points to the need to move the highway away from the expanding mine – a project that could cost more than $400 million.

“If you were in our mine pit now you would see that we are as close to that highway as we can be,” said Sandy Karnowski, a spokeswoman for Cliffs Natural Resources, which operates United Taconite.

Four years ago Cliffs approached the Minnesota Department of Transportation about moving the highway. When the state first built the road in 1960, it agreed to move it if the mineral rights owner ever wanted to access the ore underneath.

“If United Taconite cannot mine the ore under the current highway, it would reduce the life of mine, which would impact the jobs and the economic impact we have to the area,” Karnowski said.

It may seem crazy, to move an entire highway, but it’s not as unusual as it sounds. On the Iron Range, there’s a long history of moving roads – and entire towns — to make way for mining.

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The creeping hyperbole of Iron Range mining politics – by Aaron Brown (Minneapolis StarTribune – July 29, 2014)

http://www.startribune.com/

Last week I was called into town to do another “Iron Range political pundit” interview with Northland’s NewsCenter’s Nick Minock. The story was about something presumptive Minnesota GOP U.S. Senate nominee Mike McFadden had said about nonferrous mining projects in Northern Minnesota. McFadden had suggested that projects like PolyMet and Twin Metals, which have been mired in environmental review, have the potential to have the same economic impact the Bakken oil fields had on western North Dakota. I was asked, is that true?

In short, no. In long form, hell no. The sheer amount of money and people working to extract oil in the Dakotas will not come close to being matched by Northern Minnesota’s PolyMet or Twin Metals, even if these projects are permitted, financed and open to rousing success — none of which is assured for reasons outside the control of a solitary U.S. Senator. It was a piece of political hyperbole, one which McFadden all but copped to later.

I’ve written before that the controversial “mining issue” will flare up throughout Election 2014, with particular flourish in the MN-8 Congressional race, the U.S. Senate race and governor’s race. Each of these races have indeed featured the same dynamic: Republicans who support new mining arguing that Democrats who support new mining don’t support new mining enough. I’ll call this the Mesabi Daily News Rule, which states: Any deference to the concerns of project opponents, even if patronizing and entirely rhetorical, is equivalent to outright opposition.

The MDN rule essentially allows this GOP gambit, which is based on the notion that Iron Range voters who support mining and distrust the Twin Cities in a general sort of way will flock to Republican candidates.

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New company buys into proposed copper mine in northeast Minnesota – by John Myers (Twincities.com – July 14, 2014)

http://www.twincities.com/

TAMARACK, Minn. — A proposed copper mine in northeast Minnesota appears to have fresh legs with a new company buying into the project.

Talon Metals Corp. is buying at least 30 percent of the Tamarack project from Kennecott Mining to develop the copper-nickel-platinum mine near the small town of Tamarack along the Aitkin-Carlton county line.

Talon said it also has a “potential pathway” to take over 100 percent of the project if Kennecott chooses not to develop the mine. Talon will pay $7.5 million for the initial 30 percent stake in the Tamarack project and has agreed to spend another $30 million for additional exploration during the next three years.

Utah-based Kennecott has spent the past 14 years obtaining mineral rights and drilling test borings across the boggy terrain located about 45 miles west of Duluth, but the project had been on the back burner for several years with little or no activity.

It’s not clear what Talon’s entry will mean for the project, which is still in the exploratory stage, but additional test drilling is set to start later this month.

Officials with British Virgin Island-based Talon recently said some 124,700 feet, or 23.7 miles, of drill core samples from the area have been analyzed with geologists estimating more than 10 million tons of mineable ore below.

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Major Partner Won’t Expand Stake In Mine Near Ely – by CBC Minnesota (July 3, 2014)

 http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A major partner gave up the right Thursday to take a bigger stake in the proposed Twin Metals copper-nickel mine near Ely in northeastern Minnesota, which has been a target of criticism from environmentalists who fear it will harm the nearby Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

Chilean-based mining company Antofagasta PLC said it has terminated its option to buy another 25 percent of Twin Metals Minnesota LLC. The announcement said Toronto-based Duluth Metals Ltd. is now assuming control of the joint venture.

Duluth Metals owns 60 percent of Twin Metals Minnesota. Antofagasta, which could have upped its stake to 65 percent, said it’s now “evaluating its options” for what to do with its 40 percent interest in the joint venture and its 10 percent direct ownership stake in Duluth Metals.

“By doing this today Antofagasta has signaled they intend to walk away from the project,” said Aaron Klemz, spokesman for the Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness. An Antofagasta spokesman denied that.

“No they’re not walking away,” spokesman Robin Wrench said by phone. He said Antofagasta still likes the project for the long-term, it’s just not exercising its right to buy a larger stake. The move means Antofagasta is only responsible for 40 percent of the project’s future funding, not 65 percent, he said.

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Mining making comeback in Michigan’s UP – by Associated Press (Mesabi Daily News – June 14, 2014)

 http://www.virginiamn.com/

‘We’ve been kicked in the teeth so much over the years’

WHITE PINE, Mich. — A way of life dating back more than a century appeared over in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula when the last copper mine closed in 1995, idling more than 1,000 employees and turning this once-thriving company town into a forlorn outpost.

Now a Canadian company is planning a new mine at the site a few miles from Lake Superior, where screeching gulls hover over empty buildings and parking lots are littered with broken glass. If Highland Copper Co.’s plans go forward, the area will be astir once more as underground ores are blasted, hauled to the surface and crushed at a mill to extract valuable minerals.

White Pine’s impending rebirth is almost miraculous to local residents who have borne the brunt of its demise, but it’s part of something even bigger: a surprising resurgence of a mining industry that once was an economic pillar in three Upper Midwestern states but has been in serious decline.

In the past few years, at least six open-pit or underground mines have been proposed or started in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin, the first such ventures in decades. Additionally, four new Minnesota operations are using refined technology to extract iron from waste rock mined long ago. Other companies are exploring the region’s ample deposits of iron, copper, nickel and other metals, which have become more marketable because of improved technology and rising demand in the U.S. and China.

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Mining and Water Don’t Mix: Acid Mine Drainage Threatens Lake Superior and Boundary Waters – by Meleah Geertsma (Switchboard:Natural Resources Defense Council Staff Blog – May 30, 2014)

http://switchboard.nrdc.org/

Think colossal industrial development in the Midwest – do the sparkling waters and gorgeous shoreline of Lake Superior, or pristine wilderness of the Boundary Waters, come to mind? If not, they should, given the new generation of massive metallic mines currently being slated for the Upper Midwest. These proposed mines would be among the largest in the U.S., and in some cases in the world. And they would be located in some of the country’s most treasured and unique freshwater ecosystems. The trouble is, sulfide mining and water just don’t mix.

In early June, the Michigan Court of Appeals will hear arguments in a case over the construction of an underground mine near the shores of Lake Superior in the Yellow Dog Plains of Marquette County in the Upper Peninsula. Due to the Eagle Mine’s potential for creating acid mine drainage – a highly toxic product formed when sulfides in the ore and/or overburden interact with oxygen and water – and a host of other environmental and economic concerns, the mine has generated significant controversy in the local area and beyond.

In addition, as the first mine permitted by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) under the state’s revised mining law (adopted by the legislature in 2004) and the first mover among the new generation of massive metallic mines facing the region, the Eagle Mine is an important example of the health and environmental onslaught from mining currently poised to hit the Upper Midwest.

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The Northern Minnesota [mining] political narrative: Real and Imagined – by Aaron Brown (Minneapolis Star Tribune – June 11, 2014)

http://www.startribune.com/

It’s an election year. Not just that, it’s another year fraught with continuing statewide debate over mining and environmental issues in northern Minnesota. This brings with it a combustable mix of political speculation, hammer-fisted rhetoric and economic obfuscation in a region populated by trees, deer and people (in that order).

I might not be the only political speculator in this state, but I might be the only one who can see two mines, a lake, a dirt road and the outskirts of a national forest from my roof. So off we go.

In the interest of shaking up the conversation, I’m presenting a contrast today: the real Northern Minnesota as contrasted with the imagined one often found in political speeches and media accounts. It’s not just a Cities vs. Up North thing: perceptions can be just as cloudy “up here” as they are “down there.” As we all should know by now, perception is not always reality.

The Imagined

Northern Minnesota is deeply split over copper and nickel mining, with the Iron Range being for it and Duluth against it. The DFL is split over the issue because of its environmental base, so Republicans’ full-throated support of mining threatens to shift this former DFL stronghold to the Republicans this year. After all, that’s what happened in 2010.

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Pioneer Mine video: Crossing over from black and white to digital (The Ely Echo – June 8, 2014)

 

http://www.elyecho.com/

This week a new video on YouTube brings to life the underground world of Ely’s historic Pioneer Mine. Great photos, mainly in black and white, cross into the digital world. It’s a great step forward for presenting and preserving our mining history. Here’s why that’s important.

Today’s mining news is not about iron ore, it’s about copper, nickel, gold, platinum, palladium and other platinum group metals (PGMs). Just as iron built this country’s infrastructure and helped the United States to win two world wars, copper and other PGMs are helping us advance our digital infrastructure, from televisions to cellphones.
But in order to better understand where we’re going we need to understand where we’ve been. Thanks to volunteers with the Ely Arts and Heritage Center, that’s being done today.

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PolyMet mining issue cuts deep into DFL unity at state convention – by Baird Helgeson (Minneapolis Star Tribune – June 2, 2014)

http://www.startribune.com/

DULUTH – Democrats averted a nasty public fight Sunday over a controversial Iron Range copper-nickel mining proposal that has vividly split powerful party factions.

Activists at the state DFL convention decided against debating a proposal to make support of mining part of the state party platform. The move took on enormous implications as environmentalists and labor supporters are bitterly divided over PolyMet Mining Corp.’s proposal to extract copper and nickel from the long-closed LTV mine in Hoyt Lakes.

“The mining issue has the potential to rip up the last remaining hard-core Democrats,” said Joel Holstad, a DFL activist from Forest Lake. “I have no idea which way this is going to go, but I think this issue has the potential to be incredibly impactful on the future of the party.”

Some elected Democrats, who control the governor’s office and the House and Senate, were dreading a bruising public fight that would have overshadowed DFLers’ overwhelming endorsements of Gov. Mark Dayton and U.S. Sen. Al Franken, who are heading into tough re-election fights.

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Duluth sees nickel upside at Twin Metals (Northern Miner – May 14, 2014)

The Northern Miner, first published in 1915, during the Cobalt Silver Rush, is considered Canada’s leading authority on the mining industry.

VANCOUVER — It’s been a long road for junior Duluth Metals (TSX: DM, US-OTC: DULMF) on the northern edge of Minnesota’s prolific Iron Range, but it looks like the development potential of the company’s Twin Metals joint venture with major Antofagasta (LON: ANTO, US-OTC: ANFGY) is set to come into focus in the next few months.

The companies are set to release a prefeasibility study (PFS) based on a large-scale copper-nickel-platinum-palladium-gold resource in July — the first updated study since a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) in 2008 — which will outline a 50,000-tonnes-per-day underground mine.

Duluth has also undergone a management change as it moves towards a potential development scenario, with former-COO Kelly Osborne — who worked as a senior vice-president of underground operations for Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold (NYSE: FCX) — stepping in as the company’s president and CEO on May 12.

Outgoing president Vern Baker took some time to sit down with The Northern Miner to discuss his four-year tenure with the company, and shed some light on the current state of the Twin Metals project. Baker will continue to serve on the Twin Metals technical committee moving forward.

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In waste rock, mining companies find opportunity and create jobs [Minnesotta iron range] – by Dan Kraker (Minnesota Public Radio – May 4, 2014)

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/features/

The rising price of iron ore and other metals in the last decade has led mining companies to an important discovery: There’s money to be made in what was once considered waste.

Minnesota’s Iron Range is littered with the legacy of 130 years of iron mining. Mine pits, enormous waste rock piles and tailings basins dot the landscape.

A newfound interest in the leftover rock is leading to a resurgence of mining on the western edge of the Iron Range, between Grand Rapids and Hibbing.

At the forefront is a company called Magnetation, which is building its fourth plant outside Grand Rapids. In what old mining companies considered junk rock, Matt Lehtinen, the company’s 32-year-old president, sees opportunity.

“Behind me here is actually a stockpile of waste iron ore called coarse tailings, about 400,000 tons of high grade waste, that 50 years ago was waste, but now is actually considered high grade feed for us for this plant,” he said.

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NEWS RELEASE: Duluth Metals Highlights Twin Metal’s Nickel Position with 4.7 Billion Measured and Indicated Pounds and 4.2 Billion Inferred Pounds

  • Duluth Metals has 60% ownership interest in Twin Metals Minnesota LLC which is currently close to completing a detailed pre-feasibility study on a very large copper-nickel-PGM project in NE Minnesota
  • Duluth Metals is well positioned to benefit from the current recovery in world nickel prices
  • Nickel currently contributes 30 percent to the base case NSR valuation of the Maturi Measured + Indicated Resource*
  • Realization of projected escalating spot nickel prices over the next two years may significantly increase the overall TMM nickel value and potential revenue ratio
  • January 2014 AMEC resource update highlights a contained nickel resource of 4.7 billion pounds Measured + Indicated and 4.2 billion pounds Inferred*
  • Duluth Metals has previously announced high grade nickel intersections in the southern portion of the Maturi Deposit **

TORONTO, May 1, 2014 /CNW/ – Duluth Metals Limited (“Duluth Metals”, “Company”) (TSX: DM) (TSX:DM.U) is pleased to announce that the Company is well positioned to take advantage of the rapidly recovering nickel market through their 60% ownership in Twin Metals Minnesota LLC (“Twin Metals”), which is currently in advanced pre-feasibility phase on a major polymetallic copper-nickel-platinum-palladium-gold project in NE Minnesota.

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Sulfate discussion: Wild rice and iron mining can coexist in Minnesota – by Chris Masciantonio and John Rebrovich (Minneapolis Star Tribune – March 19, 2014)

http://www.startribune.com/

A reasonable, science-based sulfate standard is the key.

The United Steelworkers and United States Steel have a long history of working together on issues that affect Minnesota’s cherished lakes and countryside, while keeping in mind the importance of preserving the state’s century-long tradition of iron mining. In recent weeks, Minnesotans have heard about multiyear, state-funded scientific research initiated by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency on the effects of sulfate on wild rice production. The MPCA is soon expected to recommend a standard for sulfate levels in waters used for the production of wild rice.

We support science-based evidence to help Minnesota protect its important natural resource of wild rice. The state-funded research clearly shows that the current wild rice sulfate standard of 10 milligrams per liter — which has never been enforced — is not scientifically supported. This standard was enacted in the 1970s based on observational data from the 1940s. Not only is imposing this 40-year-old standard unnecessary, but it places at risk the future of a healthy taconite mining industry in Minnesota.

Most Minnesotans know United States Steel’s Minnesota ore operations for producing an abundance of the iron ore required by the North American steel industry. We are where steelmaking begins, and we are the reason for the name “Iron Range.”

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Mining Minnesota’s Canoe Country – by Greg Breining (Audubon Magazine – March-April 2014)

http://www.audubonmagazine.org/

A project could poison one of North America’s most important watersheds for years.

A mining company has set its sights on northern Minnesota’s fabled canoe country.

If PolyMet gets its way, the first open-pit copper-nickel mine in the region will begin operations later this year, raising fears that the mine will leak acid and toxic metals into wetlands and waterways that feed into Lake Superior.

PolyMet’s NorthMet mine would sit along the Mesabi Range in Superior National Forest, about a mile south of an existing taconite mine. The company would dig up nearly 1,000 acres of spruce-dominated wetlands to depths of 700 feet, stockpiling waste rock nearby. It would haul ore to a nearby refurbished taconite plant for processing, and jettison tailings in an existing taconite basin. Over 20 years it plans to excavate some 533 million tons of waste rock and ore. The project, PolyMet says, would create up to 500 jobs during peak construction and 360 during operations.

Miners have dug sprawling open pits in Minnesota for more than a century. But unlike most mined ore, the region’s copper-nickel is locked in a sulfide- containing matrix. Once exposed to oxygen and water, sulfides oxidize to produce sulfuric acid and release metals in soluble forms, including mercury, copper, iron, and nickel. Acidic and metallic drainage from the mine pit, waste-rock stockpiles, and tailings basin could continue to leach into ground and surface water long after the mine is closed.

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