PolyMet Permit to Mine Released; Environmental Community Maintains Opposition

Via Minnesota Environmental Partnership

(Saint Paul, Minn.) – The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) released the Permit to Mine for the PolyMet open-pit sulfide mining project in Northeastern Minnesota. The PolyMet Sulfide Mine poses a direct threat to Lake Superior and communities downstream, including the Fond du Lac Reservation. Sulfide mining is different from taconite mining, and no mine of this type has operated and closed without pollution to nearby lakes, streams, or groundwater.

The PolyMet mining plan is based on flawed science, and poses the risk of catastrophic failure. The mine will require continuous water treatment of the waste hundreds of years after the mine closes, even though PolyMet only plans to operate the mine for 20 years.

The plan includes reusing a forty year old, leaky dam and storing sulfide mine waste on top of an unstable foundation of old taconite mine waste. If this dam were to fail, mine waste would contaminate the St. Louis River, impacting thousands of people who depend on this water and potentially polluting Lake Superior.

According to a non-partisan poll produced by the Minnesota Environmental Partnership in 2017, 72% of Minnesotans are concerned about runoff from mines threatening to pollute the Boundary Waters and Lake Superior. In the same poll, respondents were asked if they were in favor of or opposed to sulfide mining. 52% reported they were opposed to sulfide mining.¹

Below is a statement from Minnesota Environmental Partnership’s executive director Steve Morse on the release of the Permit to Mine:

“This would be Minnesota’s first ever sulfide mining project, and no mine of this type has operated and closed without polluting local waters with acid-mine drainage. This plan relies on outdated technology and a flawed tailings basin. The long-term risks to the safety and health of downstream communities and Lake Superior far outweigh the short-term benefits; the mine will only be operational for 20 years, but will need active water treatment plants for hundreds of years after it closes.”