Twin Metals Mining Lease Reinstated Near BWCA

Hopefully these projects go through. Mining in the present isnt the mining of the early 1900's or even 20 years ago. It can be done safely and in a way that doesnt damage the environment.
Its not like the area cant use some good paying jobs.
 
Hopefully these projects go through. Mining in the present isnt the mining of the early 1900's or even 20 years ago. It can be done safely and in a way that doesnt damage the environment.
Its not like the area cant use some good paying jobs.

The oil drilling in the gulf seemed to be going smoothly until it went very bad . When mining projects like this go bad they usually result in an environmental disaster that takes years and years to clean up after the mining company closes up and leaves the area in ruins and the jobs gone.
Also with the clown now in charge of the EPA, more and more environmental regulations are being done away with making it more likely we will have more mining disasters.
 
more and more environmental regulations are being done away with making it more likely we will have more mining disasters.

What EPA regulation that was in place and would have been applicable to this project has been/will be done away with?
 
What EPA regulation that was in place and would have been applicable to this project has been/will be done away with?

Several regulations are being removed, not implemented, or watered down between the state and federal level. One example is the sulfate standard implemented by the state of Minnesota. I'm not against the development of our natural resources but I would like the true cost of doing so to be applied. The cost to the tax payer, our public lands and our waters. Yes, this may change the viability of these mines to some extent but we owe it to future generations to use restraint. Polymet is almost a non-issue to me but the proposed twin metals is...

"Defenders of the short-sighted men who in their greed and selfishness will, if permitted, rob our country of half its charm by their reckless extermination of all useful and beautiful wild things sometimes seek to champion them by saying the 'the game belongs to the people.' So it does; and not merely to the people now alive, but to the unborn people. The 'greatest good for the greatest number' applies to the number within the womb of time, compared to which those now alive form but an insignificant fraction. Our duty to the whole, including the unborn generations, bids us restrain an unprincipled present-day minority from wasting the heritage of these unborn generations. The movement for the conservation of wild life and the larger movement for the conservation of all our natural resources are essentially democratic in spirit, purpose, and method." - Theodore Roosevelt
 
I simply struggle to understand how any sportsman could side with a foreign mining company over hunting and fishing habitat and opportunity. The chances that the tailings don't leach sulfuric acid into the groundwater and then into the nearby waterways... in perpetuity, is zero. It'll just be a matter of doesn't it wreck the waters in your life, your kids life, or maybe your great^6 kids lifetime.
 
I simply struggle to understand how any sportsman could side with a foreign mining company over hunting and fishing habitat and opportunity. The chances that the tailings don't leach sulfuric acid into the groundwater and then into the nearby waterways... in perpetuity, is zero. It'll just be a matter of doesn't it wreck the waters in your life, your kids life, or maybe your great^6 kids lifetime.

Stillwater mine here in MT is a great example of mining done right. As is Eagle Mine, in Upper MI where I am from. Eagle is in a similar ore body to the mines being proposed outside the BWCA.
I would also point out that there are multiple mines located accross the border from MN that arent killing the environment.
 
What EPA regulation that was in place and would have been applicable to this project has been/will be done away with?

You simply don't know because you don't want to know.
I suppose we should just let the current administration and their shady deals made in sound proof phone booths ruin our environment with no regard to the future.
 
The oil drilling in the gulf seemed to be going smoothly until it went very bad . When mining projects like this go bad they usually result in an environmental disaster that takes years and years to clean up after the mining company closes up and leaves the area in ruins and the jobs gone.
Also with the clown now in charge of the EPA, more and more environmental regulations are being done away with making it more likely we will have more mining disasters.

Mining and drilling for oil are two very different things.
 
You simply don't know because you don't want to know.
I suppose we should just let the current administration and their shady deals made in sound proof phone booths ruin our environment with no regard to the future.

Just answer the question, grandpa.
 
Stillwater mine here in MT is a great example of mining done right. As is Eagle Mine, in Upper MI where I am from. Eagle is in a similar ore body to the mines being proposed outside the BWCA.
I would also point out that there are multiple mines located accross the border from MN that arent killing the environment.

...for now, just wait.
 
Its really not if your a knowledgeable about the techniques employed, mine plans, etc.
 
Having been to the boundary waters multiple times I don't believe its worth the risk to that watershed. You know the saying S* flows down hill, well the BWCA is down hill from those mining leases. I agree if done right mining is something that is required and should be done but this is the wrong mine in the wrong place.
 
It seems selfish to jeopardize a place like the BWCA for all future generations to benefit a very tiny handful of people of our generation. I have very little sympathy for the people up there complaining about jobs when 3 hours south anyone with a pulse can find a decent paying job if they are willing to show up to work every day. We'd all love to live up there but it is hard to make a living. If you want to live up there you need to take the bad with the good.
 
Its really not if your a knowledgeable about the techniques employed, mine plans, etc.

it is if you look at the big picture. There's not a mine out there what will manage it's waste in perpetuity. If human error doesn't cause the problem Ole Ma Nature will ensure something beyond the design points. As a geologist I tend to think about the long haul. I mean the current Stillwater mine is still a newbie, while someone's been poking around the area since the 1880's the real development didn't occur until the late 60's. Wait another 100 years or 200 years and let's see how good their record is.
 
As an environmental scientest I think about the long term as well. As a miner I am aware of new techniques being used to mitigate AMD.
As a geologist you should know that the sulfide content of the rock is whats key. I havent studied the Twin metals project in detail, but I would bet the sulfide content is pretty low. Much Like Eagles.
 
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it is if you look at the big picture. There's not a mine out there what will manage it's waste in perpetuity. If human error doesn't cause the problem Ole Ma Nature will ensure something beyond the design points. As a geologist I tend to think about the long haul. I mean the current Stillwater mine is still a newbie, while someone's been poking around the area since the 1880's the real development didn't occur until the late 60's. Wait another 100 years or 200 years and let's see how good their record is.

The metals produced at Stillwater and the way they are used are one of the greatest environmental gifts of our time. I’d challenge you to name an employer anywhere in the region that has a ‘greener’ impact.
If it was not for palladium in catalytic converters where would air quality in our country be? I don’t know about you, but I like the Clean Air Act, and the fact that every vehicle produced in modern times must and is able to comply with it.

Also, the rock at Stillwater is pretty benign. It’s not a copper mine. It doesn’t produce acidic drainage. Nitrates from blasting agents are what needs to be treated, and they are in the water treatment process before being sent to tailings, into an impoundment that captures all surface runoff from rain storms and puts it back into the lined pond.
They are permitted to discharge far below EPA limits yet discharge a fraction of their permit. East Boulder is a zero discharge operation.

Even if, God forbid the impossible happened and there was somehow a failure, there simply isn’t the chemical composition in the ore to cause a long term environmental disaster like you’d see with a high sulfide mine.

If you’ve been to either site, you’d see the continuous reclamation, which is what the whole site will someday look like.


Also, there was a large scale chromium mine just up the hill from Stillwater in WWII( not the 60s), to supply the war effort.

Stillwater is also in a legally binding good neighbor agreement with local residents represented by the Northern Plains Resource Council.

They also pay millions in tax to the two counties they operate in and pay ~1100 union workers an average 129k annually.

Ryan Zinke claims to be a geologist too......


What about bwana? Why isn’t two days enough to answer a simple question?
 
MT Gomer is spot on.
I woukd add there is nothing inherently bad about copper mines. The Kewanaw peninsula of littered with hundreds of them and most were pre ww2. They dont have acid mine drainage issues.
Its also worth noting that Eagle, the Kewanaw mines and Twin metals lay in the same band of mineralization.
 
Someone asked if anyone's mind had changed over controversial topics. Typically I'm on one or the other side. In this case, and the prior thread on this subject, the information shared is very informative. Weed out the extremes and objective details begin to stand out.

Great post, MTGomer. It provokes real thought. MTGomer as well as others in this thread and the prior have been really valuable.
 
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