Defending the Boundary Waters from sulfide mine pollution

The proposal by Twin Metals Minnesota to build an underground copper-nickel mine near the Boundary Waters Wilderness has hit another–and potentially final–roadblock, thanks to the unified efforts of environmental advocates. But as long as companies see the possibility of exploiting these mineral deposits for profit, regardless of the risks to Minnesota’s rare and beloved wilderness, the threat of mining pollution will hang over the Boundary Waters. Twin Metals Minnesota has vowed that it will continue to fight for the project, and if it does so, MCEA will be there to defend Minnesota’s wild places. 

Twin Metals Minnesota proposed building an underground copper-nickel mine next to Birch Lake, south of Ely, Minnesota, in an area where any pollution would flow into the Boundary Waters Wilderness. This watery wilderness is fragile, and any water pollution could devastate the area. Numerous environmental groups had fiercely fought to stop the project, and several times it appeared to have met a dead end. But the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) began environmental review for the project in 2020, and it continued to slowly move forward. 

But then, in 2022, the Biden administration announced that federal mineral leases for the Twin Metals project had been improperly renewed, and it canceled those leases–meaning that Twin Metals no longer had the right to build its mine as planned. The following year, the Biden administration announced a 20-year moratorium on mining in 225,000 acres of the Superior National Forest that would protect the Boundary Waters from mining pollution. Although Twin Metals has brought a lawsuit to reinstate the leases, at this point the project cannot move forward.

The proposal has a long history with many ups and downs. In 1966, International Nickel Company (INCO) acquired two federal mineral leases, one near Birch Lake and the other along the Spruce Road, right up to the wilderness boundary. In the 1970’s, concern over pollution led to a four-year moratorium on copper mining, and a state study into copper-nickel mining pollution risks. Low prices for copper and other metals cooled interest in the deposit, and it lay fallow for years. But these leases remained, and eventually sprang to life as Twin Metals Minnesota. 

In 2010, Canadian junior mining company Duluth Metals announced a joint venture with Chilean mining giant Antofagasta. Antofagasta later purchased Duluth Metals in its entirety, assuming 100% ownership.

In 2016, it looked like this proposal was dead, as the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management refused to extend the federal mineral leases. However, the Trump administration reversed these decisions and gave the leases back to Antofagasta. As Antofagasta pushed for state and federal regulators to move forward with environmental review, environmental groups including Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness, Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters, and Northeastern Minnesotans for Wilderness brought a variety of legal challenges to the reinstatement of the leases, environmental review, and state mining rules. 

Then, the Biden administration announced two actions–first, the cancellation of Twin Metals’ leases, and second a federal mineral withdrawal that would prohibit issuing new mineral leases in the Rainy River Headwaters. For now, the efforts of environmental advocates have successfully stopped the threat of Twin Metals mine pollution in the Boundary Waters.