What are the Facts?

PolyMet and Copper Sulfide Mining in MN

In addition to iron ore, the east end of the Mesabi Range contains large undeveloped deposits of sulfide ore with significant amounts of copper and nickel and smaller amounts of precious metals such as palladium. These metals are important to the modern economy. Copper is also one of the easiest metals to recycle. Currently, the U.S. only recycles about half of its copper scrap, while exporting the remainder, which is mostly post-consumer scrap1. Recycling copper saves up to 90% of the energy of mining and processing virgin ore2. Unlike most iron ore, sulfide ore oxidizes to sulfuric acid and leaches toxic metals into the environment. PolyMet proposes a 20-year sulfide mining project on 6700 acres of wetlands and forests on public land in the Superior National Forest, south of Babbitt. The U.S. EPA gave a rare failing grade to Polymets Draft Environmental Impact Statement3. Their review identified adverse environmental impacts of sufficient magnitude that the EPA believes the mine and processing plan must not precede as proposed. Acknowledged impacts include:

Polluted Rivers and Private Wells

Sulfates, mercury, and other metals would leach from tailings and waste rock into ground water and the Embarrass & Partridge Rivers.4 Pollution would reach the St. Louis River and Lake Superior. Independent review by Tribal agencies and the EPA suggests that the DNR is significantly underestimating the pollution. 5

Toxic Fish, Damaged Wild Rice

Sulfate pollution would increase already high methylmercury levels in fish, making them unsafe to eat and threatening wildlife.6 Sulfate pollution would also harm wild rice in the Partridge, Embarrass, and St. Louis Rivers.7 Toxic metal pollution would damage the aquatic food chain.8
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U.S. Copper-Base Scrap Industry and its By-products. http://www.copper.org/publications/pub_list/pdf/scrap_report.pdf BIR Non-Ferrous Metals Fact Sheet, http://www.bir.org/industry/non-ferrous-metals/ 3 EPA PolyMet DEIS Findings, http://waterlegacy.org/sites/default/files/EPA_NorthMet_Rating.pdf 4 NorthMet Project DEIS pg. 4.1-65, pg. 4.1-84, Table 4.1-45 on pg. 4.1-80; US EPA PDEIS Comments pg 2-4; Tribal Positions, Appendix D, NorthMet Project DEIS. http://waterlegacy.org/sites/default/files/PolyMet/DEISTribalFindings.pdf 5 US EPA DEIS Comments pg. 2-3; Tribal Positions, July 2009 PDEIS, pg. 4.1.1-168 6 NorthMet Project DEIS pg. S-9, 4.1-122, 4.5-21 http://dnr.state.mn.us/input/environmentalreview/polymet/index.html 7 Tribal Positions, Appendix D, NorthMet Project DEIS. 8 The Minnesota Regional Copper-Nickel Study, http://www.leg.state.mn.us/edocs/edocs.asp?oclcnumber=05579755

PolyMet: Ownership and Jobs

Polymet is a foreign Canadian company owned 24% by Swiss multinational Glencore1. Profits would be exported rather than contributing to the local economy. Glencore, the worlds largest commodities trader, is notorious for pollution, unionbusting, mine accidents, and cut and run shutdowns in France, Zambia, and Columbia2. Independent estimates are that at least 60% of construction and operations workers would be from outside the Iron Range3. Polymet would export metal concentrates and is no longer planning to produce finished copper, reducing their jobs estimate by at least 404.

Details of PolyMets Current Proposal

Polymet proposes three large open pit mines and five large permanent waste rock piles. The tailings basin and two waste rock piles would be unlined5, and even the MN DNR expects that the lined piles would leak6. The mine would shut down after 20 years, but pollution and cleanup would last 2000 years if not indefinitely7. The plan requires long-term wastewater treatment, but does not include details of a financial assurance plan to pay for cleanup8. Some toxic metals can leach from waste rock even if acid drainage is neutralized9.

Track Record of Non-Ferrous Mining in the United States

In the western U.S., the Forest Service estimates that between 20,000 and 50,000 mines are currently generating acid on Forest Service lands, and that drainage from these mines is impacting between 8,000 and 16,000 km of streams10. A study of a representative sample of modern non-ferrous mines in the U.S. found that 100% (7 of 7) of open pit mines in climates similar to northeastern Minnesota violated water quality standards. In the US as a whole, 84% (21 of 25) violated water quality11. The EPA estimates the cost of remediating all non-ferrous mining facilities is now between $20 and $54 billion. The total annual Superfund budget is $1.25 billion.

WE CAN have Jobs and Clean water

Northeastern Minnesota counties economic data show significant growth in recent decades outside of mining, while mining continues to automate, reducing jobs12. We can develop sustainable alternatives, avoiding enduring toxic, acid mine drainage damage.
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Glencore Expands PolyMet Holdings, DNT 7/16/11. http://duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/204415/ PolyMet & Glencore: An Overview. http://waterlegacy.org/sites/default/files/PolyMet/PolyMet&Glencore-3-11.pdf 3 NorthMet Project DEIS, pp. 4.10-15. http://dnr.state.mn.us/input/environmentalreview/polymet/index.html 4 PolyMet Drops Copper Metal Production Plan, DNT 2/1/11. http://duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/190499/ 5 NorthMet Project DEIS, pg. 3-22. 6 NorthMet Project DEIS Table 4.1-41 on pp. 4.1-76. 7 NorthMet Project DEIS Table 4.1-45 on pp. 4.1-80, see Tribal Positions, pp. 4.1-97 to 4.1-98. 8 US EPA Comments on DEIS pp. 3-4. http://waterlegacy.org/sites/default/files/EPA_NorthMet_Rating.pdf 9 The Minnesota Regional Copper-Nickel Study, http://www.leg.state.mn.us/edocs/edocs.asp?oclcnumber=05579755 10 EPA 530-R-94-036 NTIS PB94-201829 TECHNICAL DOC., ACID MINE DRAINAGE PREDICTION, Dec, 1994 11 Comparison of Predicted and Actual Water Quality at Hardrock Mines: The reliability of predictions in Environmental Impact Statements. http://www.mineralpolicy.org/earthworks_at_home.cfm 12 The Economic Role of Metal Mining in Minnesota: Past, Present, and Future. http://www.sosbluewaters.org/Economic+Role+of+Metal+Mining+in+Minnesota_smaller.pdf