Protesters rally against U.P. mine

It’s sad that the government is not more involved with this. With what’s going on in the Golf every possible operation that could have a negative effect on the worlds fragile environment should be looked at over and over again. Kennecott has a lot of money and is taking advantage of the recession by throwing their billions around to buy supporters. Shame

I’ve spent a fair amount of time in the Yellow Dog river area over the years. Its a lovely area that is off the beaten path and a very delicate ecosystem.
The river itself is a wonderful cold clean trout stream of the type that have disappeared across most of Michigan. In a time that we are losing hundreds of young professionals who cant get work, I understand the jobs that a mine represents, but if it costs us what makes Michigan special, I dont consider it worth it.

http://www.pimachiowinaki.org/

…this land is as important to all Canadians and the people of the world as other World Heritage Sites such as the Grand Canyon, the Pyramids of Giza and the Canadian Rocky Mountains. We know that these forests are part of the “lungs of the earth” that help clean the environment for everyone. For these and other reasons, we will be working together to develop a nomination to UNESCO by 2011. It will take much planning, consultation and collaboration to define in that nomination how the land will be used and protected in the future.

Way to go Jen and Sam!!!

I did not see even slight mention here: What is the purpose of this mine? How long have pre-Columbian peoples been mining ore in the U.P.? Why suggest that mining is some strange, Eurocentric invention?

This is a sulfide mine, which is mining Nickel, Copper, Silver, & Uranium. These minerals around the Nickel when exposed to water and air will turn into sulfuric acid. this is the same acid that’s in batteries. Ore mining is totally different. We have a web site…standfortheland.com. come visit and pass onto your friends.

People began to mine the U.P. over five thousand years before the European invasion. Traded across the continent, U.P. copper has been found in sites from Arizona to Georgia. This was not the work of wandering innocents, gathering shiny pebbles on the beach. Credible estimates say that over a billion pounds were removed by open-pit processes; this counts only the product and not the far larger mass of waste. The scars are still on the land.

Funny how some peoples pretend “their” land was clean and sacred until the capitalist Euros showed up.

Charlotte, I’m afraid you have no idea what you’re talking about. This is ore mining. It’s a copper and nickel ore. It has no uranium like you claim. We’ve had copper mining up here before that didn’t create sulfuric acid runoff. White Pine ran for 40 years without the dire consequences you and your uneducated friends are predicting. There are other mines all around Lake Superior and Lake Huron doing the same thing. Just because an ore has sulfides in it doesn’t guarantee it will produce acid. The conditions have to be right either in pyrite concentration, heat or oxidizing bacteria. The local ore bodies have not had those conditions. Please stop letting Save the Wild UP exploit you and actually educate yourself on this subject.

This type of mining is not okay with me. There is a huge risk of pollution, besides the fact that Kennecott has NEVER had a sulfide mine that did not pollute the surrounding area. We could be mining tossed out metals from landfills, not causing potential pollution to our waterways and ultimately Lake Superior. I have not met a single person who is not opposed to sulfide mining happening here. This type of mining is not in our history and not in our future.

Water is fundamental! We mustn’t let the type of disaster that is happening in the Gulf happen to Lake Superior.

For those of you that claim to be “educated” on mining, in particular, sulfide mining, and believe you are for it, why don’t you do some research about Kennecott and their track record with sulfide mining. They pollute everywhere they go! How will you feel when they destroy the Salmon Trout Creek, The Yellowdog River and ultimately, Lake Superior? Will it be worth your closed mindedness then? It’s not about mining in general, it’s about the type of mining they want to do in the Yellowdog Plains and the incredible potential for destruction that can NOT be undone! If someone wanted to open an asbestos plant near your home that was going to bring 100 jobs to people in Marquette, would you be all for it? A few jobs aren’t worth losing something that’s priceless!

The amount of sulfuric acid that it would take to significantly pollute Lake Superior is almost beyond measure. This lake fills a failed rift valley, goes deep (below sea level by quite a bit) and touches every sort of torn rock strata.

Do you believe the poster who said that nickels exposed to air and water turn into sulfuric acid? Guess if it’s on some web site, gotta be true.

@OldTimer

There was no mention of “nickels”, as in coins, being exposed to air and water producing sulfuric acid. The issue here is that sulfide ore mining is different than the traditional mining that has been going on for so long in the UP (Copper, Iron, Gravel, Sand)

The nickel and copper ore that will be mined is locked in a sulfide ore body that when exposed to air and water does produce sulfuric acid. The nickel and copper have nothing to do with it. It is the ore tailings that are the problem. The tailings they will strip from the precious metals and leave behind, the tailings that will be there long after Kennecott even exists. Long after they are held to any inkling of accountability for the management and clean up of those tailings.

This is an entirely different sort of mining than the “open pit” mining that the pre-colonial Americans were supposedly doing. Very different than the copper and Iron mining going on to this day across the UP. And most notable in a very different sort of location. The Yellow Dog Plains is about as remote as you can get in Michigan. Eagle Rock is as precious to the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community as the Wailing Wall is to the Jewish people.

R B, I have a bachelors and masters in this field, is that enough research for you? Maybe it doesn’t compare to the hours you’ve put in doing Google searches but please, just tell me why White Pine didn’t create acid runoff.
BM, the amount of copper and nickel in landfills is minuscule. The vast majority of metals in landfills is either aluminum or iron. Even mining those would not come close to satisfying the growing world demand.
Travis, I would argue that when contacted with air and water that this ore will not produce acid, just like White Pine didn’t produce acid. The catalyst necessary for the reaction doesn’t exist. Also, there is no copper mining going on in Michigan today, you’ve been misinformed.

@ Miner

Ok, I will admit that I may have assumed there was some vestige of copper mining that was still going on in the UP. Though somehow I think the lack of current copper mining in the UP still doesn’t negate the fact that Eagle Rock is a sacred site, (one of the main points of my comment, in case you missed it), nor does it negate the fact that the Yellow Dog Plains is a truly remote place (unlike most of the rest of the state), and is deserving of protection. Protection from any large scale industrial project, regardless of the specific potential pollutants. I don’t care if it were a bubble gum factory they wanted to put in on this particular site, I would oppose it. I do not oppose all mines, nor all bubble gum factories, but I do oppose mining on the Yellow Dog Plains. It makes no difference to me if it is a few drops of sulfuric acid, a raging torrent of mine water from the failed retention pond (the plan for which lacks the foresight to deal with a good spring snow melt in the UP), leaking engine coolant from a mine truck, or even sediment kicked loose from all the trees they have already cut down in preparation for the mine. I oppose any sizable disturbance on the yellow dog plains that could potentially pollute the Salmon Trout River. The largest pollutant of rivers in the US is suspended sediment and siltation, and trust me, it has significant impacts on the biodiversity of streams…

If you want to get into the particulars, pull out your soil survey charts of the region, (being that you have a masters degree in “the field”, I assume you have looked at a soil survey) The yellow dog plains, and the area around Eagle Rock, are less than ideal locations to put an outhouse let alone a mining facility.

I believe the Woodland Road they want to put in, (the permits for which are currently withdrawn) is a bad idea that would negatively impact wetlands of the area.

My personal educational background concerning sulfide mining is, admittedly less than ideal and less than peer reviewed. But I am a firm believer that you don’t have to be a PhD to be involved in a cause in which you believe. Are there PhD’s that oppose this mine? ABSOLUTELY, there are more than a handful, from varying fields, but you will be hard pressed to find a broad coalition of Biology or Geography professors at Northern Michigan University that are for this mine.

I am not familiar with the “White Pine” mine, so I will admit that I lack enough information to answer your specific questions regarding that.

I am curious though, since you seem so knowledgeable, if you could enlighten us all about the specific necessary catalysts needed to produce acid mine drainage, that seem to be absent from the Eagle Mine ore body. And, for a further curious prod, how you have ascertained the knowledge that these catalysts are indeed absent, have you drilled samples? Or
are you trusting Kennecott and Rio Tinto that they have looked into the issue?

Funny how some peoples pretend “their” land was clean and sacred until the capitalist Euros showed up.

Tip of the cap to you, sir. A fresh breath of air.

The eye-jerking Iron Eyes Cody image of native Americans is a bunch of hooey. Peaceful shepards of the environment does not fit the archaeological record of native Americans. The natives simply did not possess the technology to exploit or “do damage” to the environment. Read Lewis and Clark’s account of the Sioux. Or the record regarding the Anasazi. Or the record regarding the Mayans, Aztecs or Caribes.

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charlotte
06/06/10 9:45am

This is a sulfide mine, which is mining Nickel, Copper, Silver, & Uranium. _

Uranium? What literature or source are you getting that from or are you just throwing it in there to be dramatic?

Lee Sprague endorses Nuclear Energy. He hides behind this environmental face while he and his brother eat Rally’s Fast Food Hamburgers out of disposable products.