Minnesota Public Radio
Dan Kraker
*Click link for audio

After two and a half hours of passionate testimony, the Duluth City Council voted down a resolution Monday night that would have called for another step in the regulatory process for a proposed copper-nickel mine.

The City Council vote was strictly advisory. The proposal would have pushed for so-called “evidentiary hearings” in front of an administrative law judge before the Minnesota DNR decides whether to approve the PolyMet mine.

But the advisory nature of the vote didn’t stop more than 100 residents of Duluth and northeast Minnesota from packing the stuffy council chambers.

David Ross, president of the Duluth Area Chamber of Commerce, called the resolution a last-minute effort to block PolyMet.

Read More: http://www.mprnews.org/story/2016/09/13/duluth-council-declines-call-for-polymet-hearing

Star Tribune
Steve Karnowski

A mining company that hopes to build an underground copper-nickel mine near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness sued the federal government Monday to try to keep the mineral rights leases it needs for the $2.8 billion project to go forward.

Twin Metals Minnesota’s lawsuit seeks to invalidate a recent opinion by the solicitor of the U.S. Department of the Interior that the company doesn’t have an automatic right to renew its two leases, which were first issued in 1966 and last renewed in 2004. The lawsuit said earlier renewals were routinely granted.

The solicitor’s opinion, sent to the federal Bureau of Land Management, has “cast a cloud of uncertainty” over the project, blocking the company from engaging in long-term planning, investment, development and operational decisions, Twin Metals’ Chief Operating Officer Ian Duckworth said in a statement.

Read More: http://www.startribune.com/twin-metals-minnesota-sues-feds-over-minerals-lease-renewals/393122091/

Duluth News Tribune
Staff

PolyMet Mining Inc. on Wednesday submitted another in a series of applications for state and federal permits needed to build a proposed copper-nickel mine and processing center on the Iron Range.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency said it has received the company’s application for an air-emissions permit.

Read More: http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/business/4101065-polymet-submits-application-air-emissions-permit

Duluth News Tribune
John Myers

PolyMet Mining, Inc. on Tuesday submitted another in a series of applications for state and federal permits needed to build a proposed copper-nickel mine and processing center on the Iron Range.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency said it has received the company’s application for so-called 401-certification that involves water and wetlands that will be impacted by the project. The applications also includes the company’s plan to replace wetlands destroyed.

Read More: http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/business/4086789-polymet-submits-another-permit-application

Mesabi Daily News
Editorial Board

Supporters of simple, fair and even-handed treatment of the Twin Metals mining leases issue will trek to the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center today for a U.S. Forest Service listening session.

It’s about renewal of leases that should be a slam dunk for continued exploration of possible copper/nickel mining in the region.