News - Jobs For Minnesotans

MINE IX: PolyMet Ready to Go – “Dig, Baby, Dig!”

February 24, 2016

Mesabi Daily News
Opinion: Michael Thompson

Once [PolyMet] is operational, 360 direct mining jobs will be created having a payroll spending impact of $330 million per year. Don’t forget about the indirect jobs that this will create. Contractors doing maintenance of facilities, vendors and small businesses expanding or opening would create an additional estimated 630 jobs. The Labovitz School of Business at the University of Minnesota-Duluth economic impact study estimates a total of $515 million per year being pumped into the local economy.

Views from the mining industry

February 7, 2016

Duluth News Tribune
Opinion: Frank Ongaro

Is PolyMet a big deal?

“Polymet will be creating the same economic impact as having the Super Bowl in Northeastern Minnesota every year for 24 years. They estimate when the Super Bowl comes to Minnesota (in two years), it’s going to be a half-a-billion-dollar, a 500-million-dollar, benefit to the state of Minnesota. That’s what PolyMet is going to do, plus (more), each and every year for 24 years. Let’s start there. Let’s look at the economic opportunity and then let’s go from there.”

Our view: We will survive this mining downturn, too

February 3, 2016

Duluth News Tribune
Editorial Board

“What a great opportunity for the entire state of Minnesota,” Frank Ongaro said of PolyMet. “You talk about this region, you talk about economic development, there’s no single better economic development opportunity for this region of the state than PolyMet Mining: 300-plus jobs for 20-plus years. That’s a generation. That’s not short-term. That’s not a small amount of jobs. Plus, (there’ll be) another 600-plus spin-off jobs, as determined by the University of Minnesota. We’re talking a thousand jobs for this region for a substantial number of decades, and we’re talking about great, great-paying jobs for this region. … It’s a tremendous opportunity for this region and for all the vendors and suppliers, and not just in Northeastern Minnesota and not just in Duluth but from all across the state.”

Here’s What We’d Like to See Happen in Ely in the Year 2016

January 3, 2016

Ely Echo
Editorial

We’re not into New Year’s resolutions. Instead we’ve come up with a wish list for 2016. Santa, if you’re reading, the Ely area and the whole Iron Range are in need of some gifts that last beyond Christmas.

Here’s a start for the new year:

Permitting, construction at PolyMet

Want to give the East Range a real shot in the arm and prospects for better tomorrows? How about the issuance of permits and the start of construction at the region’s first copper-nickel mine.

After more than a decade of review, and some recent green lights in the environmental study process, it’s time for the state to stand strong and permit the PolyMet project.

The permanent jobs will bring more positions with good-size paychecks to the area, not to mention spin-off jobs and a construction period that’s sure to be an economic boon.

The lawsuits from environmental groups are inevitable, but here’s hoping that part of the reason PolyMet has taken so long to permit was that regulators have assembled a plan that’s bulletproof.

On the same topic, we’d like nothing better than to see Twin Metals Minnesota make progress on its plans to develop a mine that just might be the biggest piece of economic development in Ely’s history.

DNR Extends Comment Period on PolyMet Environmental Review

December 11, 2015

Minnesota Public Radio
Dan Kraker

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has extended the public comment period on the final environmental review of the proposed PolyMet copper-nickel mine.

The DNR says it will not accept comments through Dec. 21, a week later than the original deadline.