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Several companies are lining up to mine sulfide ores in a region that stretches from near Hoyt Lakes to the edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness near the South Kawishiwi River.
Combined, the projects would destroy thousands of acres of forest and wetlands and could fill the clean lakes and rivers of the region with toxic waste.
 A map of the Duluth Complex The mining companies are interested in ore deposits in a formation called the Duluth Complex. Attracted by copper, nickel and other metals, mining companies would either operate open pit strip mines or underground shaft mines, depending on the depth at which the ore is located.
The area has never been mined for these minerals before because the deposit is very low grade, meaning that about 99 tons of rock must be excavated for every ton of ore. Previously, such mining has been too expensive to be profitable, but new methods have lowered the costs of mining.
PolyMet Mining Corp.
PolyMet’s Northmet project is the furthest along of any proposal in Minnesota. The company would operate a strip mine near Hoyt Lakes, in the Partridge River watershed, which drains into the St. Louis River and then Lake Superior.
A Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the project has been delayed several times while the company does additional data collection and reworks models to resolve problems. It is now expected to be released in late 2009, at which time the Friends and citizens will have the opportunity to review the proposal and submit comments to government agencies.
There are many worrying details about the project, including the destruction of approximately 1,200 acres of wetlands and 1,000 acres of forest (all of it on public lands), massive piles of toxic waste rock, low levels of acid-neutralizing minerals present in the ore, the potential to create mercury pollution in the St. Louis River, and the watery ecosystem that the mine would be located in. Keep reading about PolyMet »
Exploration at the edges of the Boundary Waters
Several companies are engaged in active mineral exploration in a region in the heart of the Superior National Forest and at the very edges of the BWCAW. The exploration activities could have serious impacts on the ecosystem, ranging from the creation of additional roads to acid mine drainage. Already, Boundary Waters users and nearby property-owners have been affected by noise pollution from drilling.
If the exploration leads to the mines that the company’s hope it will, a large swath of wild woods and waters could be converted to a new mining district of these unsafe mines, draining directly into the Wilderness. Continue reading about exploration near the BWCAW»
Franconia Minerals Corp.
Franconia’s mine would actually be underneath Birch Lake, part of the Kawishiwi River that drains into the Boundary Waters. Although the company has completed extensive exploratory drilling, it is not currently in the Environmental Review process.
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