Mining Industry’s View: Let Mining Boost State Manufacturing
Duluth News Tribune
Opinion: Hal Quinn
Despite the boon existing iron ore operations provide, Minnesota has yet to come close to realizing the full economic potential of its mineral resources. This is because an outdated and duplicative federal permitting process for minerals mines deters investors from developing projects here and keeps valuable state resources locked in the ground.
The same is true across the U.S. Our nation holds more than $6.2 trillion worth of key minerals that are not being utilized in large part because investors are hesitant to jeopardize their investments in the face of America’s lengthy and uncertain permitting process. Investors instead seek out foreign mineral projects that can be swiftly approved. In the process they pour money into foreign work forces and offshore manufacturing operations.
Read more: http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/274859/group/Opinion/
Walker Pilot Independent
Dean Morrill
While Gov. Mark Dayton was out of state trying to bring jobs to Minnesota, three representatives from Jobs For Minnesotans were in Walker last week touting the strategic metals that are just waiting to be mined in northeast Minnesota.
Christopher Tiedeman and Mike Franklin of Weber Johnson Public Affairs, located in St. Paul, and Jason George, the Legislative and Political director of International Union of Operating Engineers in Minneapolis, said thousands of jobs will be created by mining these metals.
Northeast Minnesota has one of the largest untapped sources of copper, nickel, platinum, palladium, cobalt and gold in the world.
Read more: http://www.walkermn.com/news/article_8386e2fa-f9e4-11e2-bc06-0019bb2963f4.html
Mesabi Daily News
Opinion: Jon Cherry
Once we’re ready begin mining and processing, we’ll hire as many as 360 people to fill stable, good-paying jobs. In addition, the University of Minnesota Duluth estimates that indirect opportunities could generate nearly twice that number of jobs in St. Louis County alone.
Economically, our operations will provide St. Louis County’s economy with a $500 million boost each year – or $10 billion over the 20-year life of the proposed project, according to a study by UMD.
But, as jaw-dropping as these numbers are, we certainly don’t want all of this economic promise to overshadow the environment. As part of state regulations, before we even begin mining, we will set aside funding that is legally protected to ensure that the site will be properly closed, monitored and maintained.
Read more: http://www.virginiamn.com/mine/article_19724722-f95a-11e2-ba4e-0019bb2963f4.html
Just over 150 years ago, people came to northern Minnesota in search of gold.
Instead, they found a more enduring, but no less valuable resource — iron ore.
The rest, of course, is history — Minnesota history shaped by generations of entrepreneurial, daring and hard-working “Iron Rangers.”
Good paying jobs, the ability to raise a family, vibrant communities, quality education and stewardship of the wilderness and environment — these are the past and present values and aspirations that define more than a century of mining throughout Minnesota’s Iron Range.
Read more: http://www.virginiamn.com/mine/article_1dad37ae-f95d-11e2-8a48-0019bb2963f4.html
Rural Minnesotans Less Optimistic About Economy
MPR News
Tom Robertson
Rural Minnesotans are less optimistic about the economy than people in the Twin Cities and other metropolitan areas of the state, according to a new study by the Blandin Foundation.
The Blandin Foundation’s Rural Pulse survey, to be released today, found that while about 40 percent of respondents in urban areas thought there aren’t enough local job opportunities, 56 percent of rural Minnesotans thought so.
“Recovery hasn’t made it to all people,” said Kathleen Annette, president of the Grand Rapids-based foundation. “And there are those in rural communities that have less optimism. And those are primarily those that are making less than $35,000 a year, and they’re older than the age of 35.” Read more: http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2013/05/08/news/rural-minnesotans
Blandin Foundation
News Release
Economic recovery is reaching Minnesotans unequally, according to a statewide survey released by the Blandin Foundation. The real-time snapshot of community issues, perceptions and priorities among rural Minnesota residents, called Rural Pulse(TM), demonstrated that demand for living-wage jobs far outweighs all other concerns.
While residents note that the economy has improved somewhat, 58 percent of rural Minnesotans and 41 percent of urban Minnesotans say there are insufficient local job opportunities. Urban residents are nearly twice as likely as rural residents to say that their economy has improved over the past year. Read more: http://www.blandinfoundation.org/resources/news-detail.php?intResourceID=7903
Ely Echo
Editorial
PolyMet has had Swiss-based Glencore as a financial partner for some time, so this wasn’t really big news. Duluth Metals received a $30 million loan from CEF Holdings Limited, which is owned 50% by Cheung Kong Limited and 50% by the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.
That being said, we’re a bit puzzled why the anti-mining crowd is opposed to foreign investment. Maybe they don’t realize our country was built on it. And without foreign investment, our country would be bankrupt.
Over 40 percent of the U.S. government’s debt is owned by foreign countries. China is at the top of a list that includes Japan, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
PolyMet Expects to Mine Copper by Late 2015
Duluth News Tribune
John Myers
One day after announcing plans to raise $80 million in cash, officials of PolyMet Mining Corp. on Thursday said they are moving headlong toward permitting and, eventually, construction of Minnesota’s first copper-nickel mine.
“This is a pretty big step for our project,” Jon Cherry, PolyMet president and CEO, told reporters Thursday. “We’re getting over that hump.”
On Wednesday the company announced it would receive a $20 million loan from its largest investor, Swiss commodities giant Glencore. Glencore already owns 25.6 percent of PolyMet and has options to increase that to 34 percent.
Minnesota Pro-Mining Group Testifies in D.C.
Members of a Minnesota coalition of labor union members and business owners testified in Washington today that federal regulatory efforts surrounding mining ventures need to be streamlined.
Harry Melander, president of the Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Council and Ruthe Batulis, president of the Dakota County Regional Chamber of Commerce and member of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, testified before the House Natural Resources Committee Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources.
The two are part of the Jobs for Minnesota coalition formed to promote Minnesota’s first-ever copper-nickel mining projects.
Washington, D.C. (March 21, 2013) – Minnesota labor and business joined forces today in Washington, D.C., urging Congress to adopt more efficient permitting processes for strategic metals mining.
Harry Melander, president of the Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Council and Ruthe Batulis, president of the Dakota County Regional Chamber of Commerce and member of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, testified before the House Natural Resources Committee Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources about Minnesota’s burgeoning strategic metals mining opportunities. Representing Jobs for Minnesotans, a coalition of labor organizations, businesses and business associations, Melander and Batulis shared insight with the subcommittee as to the breadth and scope of Minnesota’s copper, nickel, platinum, palladium and gold deposits.
“Minnesota is on the very edge of becoming one of the most significant producers of strategic metals in the world,” Melander explained to the subcommittee. “For my members, a recent University of Minnesota Duluth study shows that strategic metals projects could mean the potential for 1,300 jobs in Minnesota. A job surge of this magnitude on the Iron Range would have a significant, lasting impact on our state’s, and region’s economy.”
Batulis pointed to Minnesota’s history as not only a state steeped in a mining culture, but also one that has revolved around agriculture and the timber industry. “Minnesota is fortunate to have an abundance of natural resources,” she said.
While mining the vast minerals located in the deposit – perhaps the second largest strategic metals deposit anywhere in the world according to industry estimates – will not only create thousands of construction and permanent jobs, Batulis explained that her members are excited about the “thousands of associated and spinoff jobs created as a result.”
Batulis painted a picture of industries being created to utilize and maximize on the use of metals such as platinum, copper and nickel.
“Imagine Minnesota’s medical device manufacturing industry with the opportunity to creatively utilize strategic metals mined right here in Minnesota. That is on the horizon,” she said.
The two executives showcased how Minnesota leaders have come together – in business and government – in the pursuit of jobs. Melander pointed out that efficient permitting can be something that “policymakers of all political stripes can and should stand together to support.”
“On behalf of the 50,000 men and women I represent through the Building and Construction Trades Council, and the growing Jobs for Minnesotans Coalition I am leading with my state chamber counterpart, I’d ask that you too stand together for jobs and pass significant permitting efficiency legislation here in Washington,” Melander concluded.
The Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources received testimony from various industry groups regarding permitting efficiency throughout the morning.
About Jobs for Minnesotans
Jobs for Minnesotans is a coalition of organizations committed to promoting job creation in the state of Minnesota. Co-founded by the Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Council and the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, Jobs for Minnesotans represents the interests of Minnesota businesses, middle class workers, labor, local governments and other supporters of job creation.
Jobs for Minnesotans was created to educate and provide information about direct and spinoff job creation that the responsible development of strategic metals mining (copper, nickel, platinum, palladium, cobalt and gold) can produce for the state.
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Media Contact:
Tony Kwilas
651-292-4668
tkwilas@mnchamber.com