Twin Metals

Water is the lifeblood of the BWCA.

It’s what makes it a unique, and vulnerable ecosystem.

The geology of the BWCA is such that it can’t buffer or effectively absorb acid mine drainage. Because of this, pollution from the Twin Metals’ copper-sulfide mine could spread over two million acres of pristine water. Contaminating not just the BWCA, but Quetico Provincial Park and Voyageurs National Park.

Antofagasta, the Chilean-conglomerate that owns Twin Metals, has proposed a mine that would tunnel under Birch Lake and the Kawishawi River. These bodies of water drain directly into the Boundary Waters.

The processing facility, where they would pulverize the ore to extract trace amounts of copper and other metals, and the mountains of reactive waste rock they would produce each day, would all be done at the edge of the BWCA.

It’s not a question of if, but when this mine would pollute.

Stopping Twin Metals

The fight to protect the Boundary Waters has galvanized tens of thousands of Americans. It has grown into a nation-wide effort to save this unique wilderness.

For four years the Trump administration worked to fast-track Antofagasta’s dangerous mine near the Boundary Waters.

But now, clean water is finally winning.

In October 2021, the federal government applied for a 20-year moratorium on sulfide mining on over 224,000 acres of land surrounding the BWCA. If implemented, this would stop Twin Metals in its tracks and protect the wilderness from this toxic industry.

Read more about the Biden administration’s groundbreaking announcement here.

Speak Up for Clean Water

Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness has introduced a Prove It First bill into the Minnesota legislature. If signed into law, it would stop Twin Metals and other dangerous mines from polluting our water.

This common-sense piece of legislation is simple. Before a copper-sulfide mine could be permitted in Minnesota, there must be independent proof that a similar mine has operated for at least ten years without causing pollution and that a mine has been closed for at least ten years without causing pollution.