For nearly half a century, Ernie Lehmann has been telling people that much more than iron ore and taconite can be found on Minnesota’s storied Iron Range. Lehmann argues that substantial deposits of nonferrous metals— copper, nickel, platinum, and others—are also embedded in the region’s ancient rocks.
Plenty of people are listening to him now, and shortly before Christmas, they marked a significant milestone in the long and tortuous journey to bring nonferrous mining to the state. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) presented the long-awaited draft of its environmental impact statement (EIS) for the first proposal to dig out these deposits. Lehmann was there, at packed meetings convened by the agency on the Range and in Blaine, flashing a smile that telegraphed his dream: “Let’s dig.”
The DNR statement has been nearly four years in the making. It examines the $602 million proposal by PolyMet Mining Corporation (AMEX: PLM) to mine copper, nickel, and other valuable ores at a site near Hoyt Lakes. The EIS draft is one of the most extensive the agency has ever done: 1,800 pages backed up by more than 100 technical studies that consume another 14,000 pages.
The draft’s conclusions? The PolyMet mine would affect the quality of surface and ground water, with discharges in some cases exceeding water quality standards; these effects could be mitigated through actions identified by the DNR, however.
Five more mining companies have indicated they could follow Vancouver-based PolyMet with their own nonferrous mines. Exploratory drilling grew explosively in the state in 2007 and 2008. Geologist Dean Peterson says Minnesota is “on the cusp of developing one of the world’s most important mining districts.”
The source of all this buzz is the 1.1-billion-year-old Duluth Complex, a crescent-shaped territory north of Duluth and on the northern end of the Mesabi Iron Range. In 1979, the DNR estimated that the rocky formations of this region hold 4.4 billion tons of crude ore containing copper, nickel, and precious metals. Peterson and others believe it to be much higher today due to additional discoveries made since 1979.
100-Plus Years of Production
Peterson heads exploration activities for Duluth Metals, Ltd. (TSX: DM), which has identified immense nonferrous reserves at its Nokomis Deposit site in the Duluth Complex. Using data from the U.S. Geological Survey and from other mining companies, Peterson estimates that this district contains huge portions of all U.S. reserves for a series of important metals: 99 percent of the country’s nickel, 88 percent of its cobalt, 51 percent of its platinum, 48 percent of its palladium, 34 percent of its copper.
