Minerals Search Blocked: AITKIN COUNTY PLANNING COMMISSION:Group Hears Residents’ Concerns About Mining and Denies Permit for Exploration.
By John Myers, Duluth News-Tribune, Minn.
May 16–Mineral exploration in Aitkin County has some residents worried that any deposits of copper and nickel could lead to future mining efforts and polluted runoff.
Listening to their concerns, the Aitkin County Planning Commission voted Monday to block the exploration.
Utah-based Kennecott Exploration has been looking for minerals in north-central Minnesota since 2001, below most people’s radar until Kennecott wanted to look on private land in Aitkin County.
The county has a unique law that requires a public hearing and a conditional-use permit before minerals exploration is allowed on private land. The permits aren’t needed on land for which the state holds mineral rights.
The company, like many others, leases rights from the state and private landowners while searching for minerals.
“They’ve been looking for several years on state land here in Aitkin County, and on state and private land in Carlton, Kanabec, Mille Lacs and other counties. This isn’t anything new,” said Scott Arneson, Aitkin County administrator.
At a public hearing Monday evening, the Aitkin County Planning Commission considered the request of three landowners to allow Kennecott to explore on their properties in Clark Township, about 35 miles west of Cloquet. After more than three hours of public input, the commission decided to deny the request for exploration, “based on the potential for contamination,” said Terry Neff, county planning and zoning director.
Nearly 100 people packed the meeting, many of them concerned that exploration could lead to mining, Neff said. About 20 people spoke against the possible dangers of copper-nickel mining.
Gene Grossman, who owns land near Tamarack, learned about the exploration efforts earlier this month and has been working to raise public awareness of the potential environmental issues surrounding copper mines.
“We were horrified with what could happen to neighboring properties and the Big Sandy Watershed if this mining project were allowed to proceed,” Grossman said in a letter to local residents and the media.
County and company officials, however, insist there are no plans to mine in the area.
Arneson noted the county requires other permits for any mining activity and that no such permits have been sought. The company also has not applied for any mining permits from state or federal agencies and there has been no effort to begin an environmental review process.
Kennecott explores for minerals first by reviewing state Department of Natural Resources historical geological data and then by using aerial surveillance, magnetic imaging from trucks and by using diamond drills to take bore samples of rock and minerals hundreds of feet below the surface.
State officials noted that several companies may be exploring various parts of Minnesota at any given time.
David Simpson, a Kennecott exploration manager based in Vancouver who leads the firm’s Minnesota efforts, said the company hasn’t yet found a deposit of valuable minerals in Minnesota. He said the company is nowhere near the mining stage.
“We’re exploring across a very, very large area of (north) central Minnesota. This isn’t focused on Aitkin County; that’s just where we need this permit,” Simpson said in a telephone interview. “We’re a little bit taken aback by the opposition there. We haven’t even found a deposit as yet.”
There have been some “encouraging results” from various types of exploration, Simpson said, adding that it’s too early in the process to give a timeline when exploration would be complete.
Even if a significant deposit were discovered, Simpson said efforts to secure a permit to mine would be years away.
Copper mining has caused severe environmental damage in other states because the mineral often is found in rock high in sulfur. When air and water hit the sulfur, sulfuric acid is produced. The acid can leach from the mine, from tailings areas and from the processing area, creating toxic runoff that can destroy streams and other waterways.
By comparison, taconite and iron ore come from rock that usually doesn’t contain much sulfur.
While Kennecott is performing basic exploration, other companies already have zeroed in on parts of Northeastern Minnesota for mining copper, nickel and other valuable minerals such as platinum.
PolyMet Mining Co. is moving ahead toward digging the state’s first copper mine northeast of Hoyt Lakes. The company already has begun the environmental review and permitting process and has purchased parts of the former LTV Steel Mining Co. taconite plant to process the copper.
While copper mines have almost always left toxic pollution legacies in other areas, PolyMet officials say modern control technologies, coupled with extremely low sulfur content in the rock, will prevent that in their operations.
Another copper-nickel effort, Franconia Minerals, also has identified a valuable deposit near Birch Lake near Babbitt. The Iron Range Resources agency recently agreed to invest in that effort.
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Copyright (c) 2006, Duluth News-Tribune, Minn.
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