News - Jobs For Minnesotans

Twin Metals Minnesota Sues Feds Over Minerals Lease Renewals

September 12, 2016

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.

PolyMet Submits Application for Air Emissions Permit

August 24, 2016

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.

PolyMet Submits Another Permit Application

August 2, 2016

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.

Copper/Nickel Range Support Ongoing

July 13, 2016

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.

Twin Metals has proved itself to be a good business neighbor in Minnesota, especially on the Iron Range. It has already produced jobs, while paying taxes and investing about $400 million into the state.

We applaud all those who today will continue the good fight for what is right for the state and Iron Range and its people and workers.

Our View: Follow the Process for Twin Metals

July 13, 2016

Duluth News Tribune
Editorial Board

“A 30-day public comment period and … two public hearing sessions is not a substitute for a three- to five-year federal environmental review process that allows for substantial scientific input,” Twin Metals Government Affairs Adviser Bob McFarlin astutely pointed out in a meeting last week with the News Tribune, including with members of the editorial board. “That … process, when it is followed, is the process that allows communities, businesses, stakeholders and other organizations the opportunity to participate. If our project or any project is stopped at this point, that is a unilateral decision by a federal agency that does not take into account, the same way (the completion of an Environmental Impact Statement) would, the input from affected stakeholders.”

A renewal rejection now by the U.S. Forest Service would eliminate the public from the process. And would be in contrast to past approvals, McFarlin pointed out, a “complete, 180-degree turn on the Forest Service’s opinion on the environmental impacts — and nothing new has occurred.”