Public Invited To Comment On Mining Proposal

DULUTH NEWS TRIBUNE Thu, Aug. 04, 2005

Area residents are invited to weigh in on Minnesota Steel Industries' proposal to operate an open-pit taconite mine, an ore concentrator, a pellet plant, a direct-reduced iron plant, a steel mill and a tailings basin near Nashwauk. The applicant seeks a permit to discharge fill materials into a wetlands area as part of the project.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources plan to host a public meeting at Nashwauk High School, 400 Second St., from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Wednesday. The gathering is intended to help identify issues that warrant further analysis through an Environmental Impact Statement.

People who are unable to attend may submit written statements by mail to: District Engineer, St. Paul District, Corps of Engineers, 190 E. Fifth St., St. Paul, MN 55101-1638, Attn: Jon Ahlness, Regulatory Branch. Statements may be faxed to (651) 290-5330.

The DNR has prepared an environmental assessment worksheet and a draft scoping decision document to help guide its review process. These are available for review at several locations, including the DNR office at 1201 E. Highway 2, Grand Rapids, and the Division of Lands and Minerals, 1525 Third Ave. E., Hibbing. The documents are on file at the Duluth Public Library, 221 W. First St.

Wisconsin Science Advisory Council of Metallic Mining Members

The advisory council appointed by Governor Tommy Thompson to study the Forest County zinc and copper deposit, and which was recently dissolved on a “technicality” by Gov Doyle, is comprised of the following members:

Anders W. Andren, Chairman, Professor of Environmental Chemistry and Technology, University of Wisconsin – Madison

Tuncer Edil, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, UW – Madison

Tim Grundl, Professor of Geology and Geophysics, UW – Milwaukee

Bezalel Haimson, Professor of Geological Engineering, UW – Madison

Alphonse Zanoni, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Marquette University

Town of Nashville claims mining company violated agreement:

   The Town of Nashville claims that Nicolet Minerals Co. has violated terms of an agreement to the point that the 1996 deal can be reopened for negotiation. The Town's letter said that the mining company had 30 days to "cure the breach" and provide a written response or else the town would go to court to bring an "action for breach of the entire local agreement."

   The town's attorney indicated that the town would like to renegotiate the agreement in significant ways. Gordon Connor, project manager, said that the town's allegations are frivolous and a waste of taxpayer money.
The current Town of Nashville Board is opposed to the mining project and has attempted to have the local agreement stricken since they took office. In 1998 the board rescinded the agreement, but that move was subsequently overturned. In 2002, the Court of Appeals upheld the judge and ruled that the local agreement conformed with state law and resolved the zoning issues needed for mine development.

   The town board's current claim is that the mining company has changed the terms of the original project. In fact, the new owners, in an effort to appease some of the local concerns about potential pollution, explored having the ore shipped to out-of-state mills for processing.

   When that concept was determined to not be feasible, and realizing that such a change would trigger new regulatory reviews and cause further delay in receiving the permits, the mining company dropped all consideration. The Town of Nashville is now saying that the consideration of a change to the original mining project amounts to a change that entitles Nashville to reopen the local agreement.

   In addition, the new mine owners have asked for the Department of Natural Resources to put the review of the mining permit application on hold while they complete an internal review. The company's request for a stay is designed to stop the endless review of the application until it becomes clear that the DNR will actually issue its final recommendations. The review is being funded totally by the mining company. The Town of Nashville contends that this is a "de-facto withdrawal" of the mining permit applications under the terms of the existing local agreement.

   Nicolet Minerals Company believes that at this time the Department of Natural Resources already has sufficient information to publish the environmental impact statement and that there continues to be a pattern of foot-dragging going on with the review. Connor said that the project has essentially been on stay for the last five years. [July 1, 2003]

Owners of Nicolet Minerals offer to sell land to tribes:

    The owners of the proposed Forest County zinc and copper mine have offered to sell a small piece of the property to the Mole Lake Chippewa and Forest County Potawatomi tribes.

   Spirit Hill is the burial site of more than 500 Chippewa and Sioux warriors who died in an 1806 battle for control of the wild rice beds on nearby Rice Lake.

   Mole Lake representatives were recently quoted as being worried "about all of the graves up on Spirit Hill that the mining company wants to dig up." Gordon R Connor, project manager, said that "We want to be sensitive to their spiritual needs and we will give them the right of first refusal, but we are in the active process of selling Spirit Hill, and when it's done it's no longer our concern."

   Connor said that the property offered to the tribes will be sold at market value because they would like to recoup their cost. Spirit Hill takes up about 300 acres of the nearly 5000-acre mining property.

   Representatives of the Mole Lake Chippewa and Forest County Potawatomi were said to be unaware of the proposal by Connor and they declined to comment. [June 30, 2003]

Proposed Mine Purchased by Northern Wisconsin Resource Group:

   Gordon P. Connor, owner of Nicolet Hardwoods in Laona, recently announced the purchase of the zinc-copper ore deposit located south of Crandon. Connor said that he recognized the lack of economic opportunities in northern Wisconsin and his interest in purchasing the deposit was to save an outstanding asset for the community and to prevent the sale to another party that might simply shelve the project and eliminate more than $150 million in exploration and permitting dollars invested to date.

   Connor said that he has watched the frustrating permitting process which the previous owners have gone through for over 25 years and he recognizes that many of the people who are attempting to stop the mine development are the same people that are opposed logging and paper mills. He said that most of those who are opposed to the mining operation as proposed by Nicolet Minerals Co. are simply ignoring the scientific facts. Connor noted that those who oppose the project on strict environmental grounds or on the assumption that there will be a negative impact on tourism are mistaken.

   Connor stated that while tourism is important to the economy of Forest County, tourism cannot sustain itself and expand in this part of the state. He noted that the mine would probably become the biggest tourist attraction in the area. Camp 10, currently the largest single tourist attraction in rural northern Wisconsin, is located at Laona and is operated by the Connor family.

   He also called attention to the fact that the permitting process has been complicated by a cumbersome bureaucratic system that requires the permit application to be based on technology in place at the time the permitting process was initiated. Nicolet Minerals Co. began seeking permits in 1994. [April 11, 2003]

Exit Stage Right:

   The Northern Wisconsin Resource Group (NWRG) announced that Nicolet Minerals Company (NMC) has been sold to the Mole Lake Sokaogon Chippewa and the Forest County Potawatomi Community for the sum of $16.5 million.

  During the past 25 years, mining companies have spent over 150 million dollars attempting to develop the Forest County zinc-copper deposit. The State of Wisconsin regulatory process has been on-going for at least 18 of those years and NWRG has been informed that the decision on permits would be at least two and one-half years away.

  During the most recent ten-year period, the regulatory review process and increasingly hostile political environment made it impossible for NMC to find a mining partner for the "Crandon" deposit. Without exception, every major mining group contacted declined to pursue any development of the deposit because of Wisconsin's negative political and regulatory process. For a state rich in mining tradition, the loss of this opportunity compounds the already economically depressed northern part of the state by denying residents the opportunity to have hundreds of direct and indirect well-paying mining jobs and the loss of one of the areas largest potential tourist attractions. [10.28.2003]