News

Duluth News Tribune
June 21, 2009

There may not be much gold in them thar hills, but there's more than enough copper and nickel to make the Superior National Forest a veritable boom town of mining interest, even in a sluggish economy.

Over the past two years, more than 100 applications have been submitted to drill exploratory holes on National Forest Service land, nearly all within

20 miles of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

More than 70 drilling permits have been approved, with the ultimate authority held by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. Drilling has

started at about 20 of those sites near Ely as prospectors try to see how broad, how deep and how rich the ore deposits are.

This summer, the forest service is conducting an environmental review on another 32 applications. With many more expected in coming years, the Forest Service is developing guidelines for mining exploration requests.

"Prospecting has picked up dramatically in recent years," said Jim Sanders, Superior National Forest supervisor. Geologists "have known about what's up there for years. Now they are zeroing in on it."

That bull's eye is on the Duluth Complex, a geological phenomenon that holds large deposits of copper, nickel, cobalt, lead, zinc, titanium and platinum, along with lesser amounts of silver and gold. For years, those metals were thought to be too sporadic and too deep to be profitable. Not any more.

"The economy has slowed it down a little over the last few months. But the ... prices for precious metals in recent years, the knowledge of the ore body up there, and the improvements in technology to get at the ore ... have really combined to ratchet things up," Sanders said.

The new sites aren't far from where an open pit copper mine already is proposed by PolyMet Mining Co. north of Hoyt Lakes. But exploration efforts are moving east and north, away from the Iron Range and toward the BWCAW.

Lehman Exploration Management Inc. is one of three firms seeking permits to drill the 32 test holes near the BWCAW. Founder Ernie Lehman said it's not clear if copper and other metals will be found in the volume necessary to make mining worthwhile.

"We're not at all sure its even there. If it is, it's probably deeper than it is" at another site nearby to the southwest, he. "It's close to where we know there are [copper-nickel deposits.] And we're in a business where we tend to stay close to each other. But we don't really know."

Other companies asking to drill in the area include Duluth Metals Corp., Encampment Resources LLC and Prime Meridian Resources Inc.

The influx of prospecting requests since 2007 caught Superior National Forest officials a bit off guard. The forest's long-term management plan, completed in 2004, didn't anticipate the copper mining interest that has developed since then. Now, forest officials are working to get ahead of the exploration requests.

"It's important people understand this is about minerals exploration, not mining. We are many steps and many years away from anything close to mining in that area," Sanders noted.

Impact on BWCAW

Superior Forest officials so far have found that the exploratory drilling would cause "no significant impact," noting the drills will be removed and the sites and temporary roads rehabilitated when the companies finish their work.

The forest service helps decide where exploratory holes should be drilled and how to avoid wetlands and sensitive areas, as well as resorts and cabins, and how to keep noise to a minimum.

Environmental groups say most Minnesotans are unaware how many and how close potential mining projects are to the BWCAW. While mining is forbidden in the wilderness, and in some adjacent "mining protection areas," mines could be built up to the BWCAW boundary.

"We're always considering the impact of projects - timber sales or mining exploration or [recreation] trails - on the wilderness. But there is no formal buffer zone," Sanders said.

Copper mining skeptics say the biggest issue is potential sulfuric acid runoff into local waterways.

Betsy Daub, policy director for the Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness, notes that the rivers flowing through all of the prospective drilling areas flow into the BWCAW.

"These exploratory drilling sites pose their own impacts, with access roads and drilling pads and tree cutting, possible contamination of the water," she said. "But the larger issue is the very real likelihood that, if even only a few of these sites turn into mines, we'll see acid drainage into the wilderness."

Mining supporters counter that runoff from mines can be managed and treated.

"We can do this right," Lehman said. "Better here than in" a third-world nation with little or no environmental regulation.

The Forest Service estimates up to 4,000 acres could be affected over the next

20 years by exploratory drilling alone, including new roads and drill sites. That doesn't include nearby private or state land and doesn't include any actual mining.