Read on for a news release from the Michigan Council of Trout Unlimited…
Why Wisconsin’s Kennecott Flambeau Mine matters to Michigan
The Rest of the Story about Kennecott’s Flambeau Mine and their request to the Wisconsin DNR for Certificate of Completion
Kennecott (AKA Flambeau Mining Company or FMC) has applied to the Wisconsin DNR for a Certificate of Completion (COC) for its reclamation activities at the Flambeau Mine site. What it boils down to is that FMC wants to get back its $11 million reclamation bond, based on the company’s claim that the site has been successfully reclaimed (If a COC is awarded, the State of Wisconsin can return up to 80% of the bond – the remaining 20% would be held for an additional 20 years).
This is not just a Wisconsin issue. The people in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and Minnesota will be affected by the decision as well. You see, Kennecott is trying to gain approval to construct mines in both MI and MN at the present time and has been using the Flambeau Mine as its calling card, telling everyone what a wonderful job the company did at Ladysmith.
Fred Rydholm to present on Yellow Dog Plains and Huron Mountain Club
On April 17th, 2007, at 7 PM, Fred Rydholm will speak at Kaufman Auditorium on the Yellow Dog Plains and the Huron Mountain Club. A modern-day historical icon to our community and the Upper Peninsula, Fred knows the area, both people and places, better than anyone. Born and raised in Marquette, Fred grew up traveling around the Upper Peninsula with his parents and grandparents visiting all of the places he writes and speaks about today. Also an animated and charming storyteller, Fred Rydholm is the strongest pillar that carries forth our community’s history. Come and join us for this historical slide show and lecture featuring Fred Rydholm with aerial photographs and slides taken by Tom Buchkoe.
Tickets are $5 and can be purchased at the Kaufman Auditorium ticket booth Monday through Friday, from noon to 6 PM or by calling 225-4302 Ext. 110. Please leave your name, phone number, and how many tickets you would like to purchase. All seats reserved.
A Fred Rydholm scholarship fund for Marquette Area Public School students will be started from funds earned from this event.
Washington Post article explores tensions surrounding sulfide mining
International mining companies are once again interested in the Upper Peninsula. This excellent article in yesterday’s Washington Post explores how acid mining is incompatible with tourism built upon activities such as hunting, fishing, mountain biking, snowmobiling, skiing and kayaking.
Russ Magnaghi, director of Upper Peninsula studies at Northern Michigan University, fears that a new mining surge could mean history repeating itself.
“You have people talking about our heritage, that this is what made us great and if we have it again we’ll be great again,” he said. “Mining can seem romantic. But the reality is it’s very destructive to the environment, and it’s a very temporary thing. Are tourists going to vacation at an industrial site? You could end up with no tourism, no mining, no nothing.”
Read Upper Peninsula Looks Ahead, And Back, as Mine Interests Call in the Washington Post.
Acid Mine Drainage at Sudbury
Here is a photo of the effects of metallic sulfide mining in Ontario. As you look at other photos of acid mine drainage and the impacts of sulfide mining, ask yourself “Is this a scene Michigan wants to see?”
EPA requires Kennecott Minerals to obtain underground injection control permit
From the US Environmental Protection Agency:
EPA requires permit for proposed wastewater well
Release date: 03/23/2007Contact Information: CONTACT: Karen Thompson, (312) 353-8547, thompson.karen@epa.gov
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
No. 07-OPA042CHICAGO (March 23, 2007) – U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 has notified Kennecott Eagle Minerals Co., Marquette, Mich., that it must obtain an underground injection control permit before it can begin construction of a proposed wastewater disposal well.
Kennecott is proposing to begin a mining operation in northern Michigan. The well would be used to dispose of industrial process wastewater.
EPA requires permits in order to protect underground sources of drinking water. Based on the significant volume of wastewater to be discharged and the industrial nature of Kennecott’s proposed well, permit conditions will be necessary to protect human health and the environment and to meet the requirements of the Safe Drinking Water Act and underground injection control regulations.
Kennecott must submit a complete permit application for the proposed wastewater well to EPA within 60 days. They must also provide assurance to EPA that sufficient money has been set aside to properly close the well.
Mining plan a bust for the Petoskey News Review
In Mining plan a bust with us, the Petoskey News Review takes a stand against the proposed sulfide mining operation by the Kennecott Eagle Minerals Company in the Upper Peninsula’s Yellow Dog Plains. They cite the fact that every sulfide mine that could pollute its water did, and also note that the mine:
… is located on 160 acres of state-owned land, that would be closed off from the public for years. This means land your tax dollars have paid for will be used for the benefit of a private corporation and for an operation that could put waters of the Great Lakes at risk.
And all of this is being done for very little economic benefit. The mine is expected to create only 150 local jobs for only seven years. At the same time, the recreation industry that could be impacted by the mine’s pollution provides more than 1,700 jobs a year in Marquette County alone.
Photo credit: Mother by jcbetter from the Save the Wild UP Challenge group
Save the Wild UP Video Challenge
Michigan’s water is under assault from metallic sulfide mining, invasive species, outright diversion and a host of other threats.
Save the Wild UP is challenging you to make a video that shows why Michigan must protect its rivers, lakes and streams. We’ll all vote on the best and the winners will receive all kinds of prizes, including $2500 in cash for the Grand Prize winner!
Visit the Save the Wild UP Video Challenge web site!
Old sulfide mines don’t die … they just get deadlier
Here’s a story from the other side of the country about a used-up sulfide mine. When an acid mine is retired, often its work on the environment has only begun.
Shuttered mines still spewing poisons
Costs soar as acidic waters gush freely from 12 of Oregon’s abandoned mines
By Diane Dietz
The Register-Guard
The federal government has formally proposed adding the polluted and abandoned Formosa mine in Douglas County to the Superfund list of the nation’s worst toxic waste sites.
The move eventually could lead to a federal cleanup of the shuttered copper mine about 25 miles south of Roseburg, said Ken Marcy, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency coordinator for the Superfund list in the region. A listing also could spark an intensified federal effort to get those responsible to pay for the cleanup, Marcy said.
The Formosa mine, perhaps the most polluted mining site in the state, was actively worked by a Canadian venture, Formosa Exploration Inc., from 1990 to 1993. Formosa was partly funded by two Japanese firms.
The state shut down the operation after Formosa repeatedly violated its state permit by excavating more than allowed and spreading waste rock over the 76-acre site atop Silver Butte. Within the honeycomb of mine shafts in the mountain, sulfide-bearing rock is exposed to air and water, creating an acidic, metals-contaminated brew that pours out of the mine entrance and from fissures in the mountainside. The mine spews about 5 million gallons a year of the acidic water into nearby streams. 
The effluent has killed about 18 miles of salmon-rearing tributaries to the South Umpqua River, including part of Cow Creek.
The mine poses a “serious, ongoing threat” to people and the environment, the EPA said.
The site has contaminated fish in Cow Creek, which is fished by members of an Indian tribe and by recreational fishermen, the agency said.
Read the rest of Mine may make Superfund list in the Eugene Register-Guard and/or visit the Umpqua Watersheds page of the Formosa (Silver Butte) Mine.
Canadian company begins test drilling for new mine sites
From yesterday’s Mining Journal….
Mining exploration continues
By JOHN PEPIN, Journal Staff WriterMARQUETTE — A Canadian mining company, exploring mineral deposits in the area since 2000, has announced plans to begin test drilling this month near the proposed site of the Kennecott Eagle Minerals Company Eagle Project.
Prime Meridian Resources Corp. of Calgary, Alberta, plans to test drill at locations within two miles of the nickel and copper deposit on the Yellow Dog Plains sought by Kennecott
…
Prime Meridian’s drilling will start in the Baraga Basin and Kiernan Sill nickel-copper project areas in settings similar to the Eagle Deposit. The areas are only accessible during winter.*
The company’s strategy for nickel-copper exploration has been to focus on the northerly portion of the Mid-continent Rift located in Michigan and Minnesota.
“The rift provides a deep-seated structure and conduit that permits the development of magmatic nickel-copper (plus or minus cobalt), platinum, palladium and gold mineralization to be deposited, which is similar to Kennecott-Rio Tinto’s Eagle Deposit,” the release said.
* IMPORTANT NOTE: This is because these areas are some of the most water-rich areas in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
Photo credit: Laughing Whitefish River by James Phelps