Kennecott Receives Preliminary Approval of Mine Permit From Michigan Department of Environmental Quality
MARQUETTE, Mich., Jan. 9 /PRNewswire/ — Kennecott Eagle Minerals Company today received Michigan Department of Environmental Quality notice of the regulatory agency’s proposed approval of the permit required for Kennecott to build and operate an underground copper and nickel mine in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The proposed approval was issued after the Department preliminarily determined that Kennecott satisfied strict environmental protection standards required under Michigan’s recently enacted non-ferrous metallic mineral mining law.
Michigan’s new mining law requires the MDEQ reach and announce a preliminary decision on a mine permit application, make its determination available for a period of public review and comment, and then issue a final determination for approval or denial of a permit.
“Kennecott is pleased that the efforts of our team over the last several years to design the Eagle mine to meet high standards of environmental protection as required by state law have been recognized by the MDEQ’s preliminary determination to approve the permit,” said Kennecott Eagle Manager Jon Cherry.
With the issuance of the preliminary approval, the MDEQ has opened the required period for public review and comment on the preliminary determination; the agency will also announce dates for hearings required to be held. The hearings will provide additional comment opportunity on the mine permit, along with two other applications submitted by Kennecott for air quality and ground water discharge permits. A previous public comment period and hearing were held on Kennecott’s permit application last year.
Final decisions on the three permits are anticipated later this spring. Kennecott hopes to begin the two-year, $150 million mine construction phase in late 2007. Building the mine and related facilities will demand skills from over 100 construction workers, expected to be mostly drawn from the local workforce and will provide an estimate 300+ indirect jobs in the local economy. Mining operations are anticipated to begin in 2009.
Kennecott was the first company to apply for approval to extract minerals under the state’s new mining law, submitting applications to regulators nearly a year ago. As a result of being first, Cherry said the permit application review process has been appropriately lengthy, demanding and open. “The MDEQ staff has demonstrated professionalism and responsibility in its evaluation of our proposal, bringing in critical expertise where needed, and ensuring an open forum for the community and others to take an active role in the process.”
The Eagle Mine will be a small underground mine; the ore deposit is about six acres. Approximately 90 acres of the 1,600 U.P. acres either owned or leased by Kennecott will be used for surface operations.
“Eagle” will be the only primary nickel mine in the U.S., and is expected to produce an estimated 250-300 million pounds of nickel. Nickel and copper today are among the most highly demanded metals, used by a wide array of industries.
The Eagle Mine is expected to create approximately 120 full-time jobs and over 350 indirect jobs needed to support mine activities.
“We are eagerly looking forward to getting underway with building Eagle, and fulfilling our commitment to the community to contribute positively to its economy, quality of life and future,” concluded Cherry.
Kennecott Eagle Minerals Company is a member of Rio Tinto, one of the world’s leading mining companies, located in London. All Rio Tinto subsidiary companies are committed to becoming ISO 14001:2004 certified. The U.P. Eagle Project received its ISO 14001:2004 certification in 2005.
On the web at http://www.kennecottminerals.com/.
Kennecott Eagle Minerals Company
CONTACT: Deborah Muchmore, +1-517-372-4400, or +1-517-449-9811, forKennecott Eagle Minerals Company; or Jon Cherry of Kennecott Eagle MineralsCompany, +1-906-225-5791
Web site: http://www.kennecottminerals.com/