August 28, 2024
Dear WRPC Member and Friends of the Menominee River,
The Gold Resource Corporation’s (GORO) Back Forty Project continues to be on indefinite hold. When CEO Allen Palmiere was recently asked whether the project was “in limbo” by an investor, he said that he didn’t like the term limbo but it was not inappropriate. “In the current financial climate for junior companies,” he said, “it would be virtually impossible for us to finance it. And rather than spend money on Back Forty currently, what we’ve chosen to do is spend the money on exploration in Don David (GORO’s Mexican mine) where we know we can generate cash flow.” GORO reported a net loss of $27.7 million for the second quarter of 2024 and a cash balance of $5.3 million. The longer GORO postpones the Back Forty permitting process, the more expensive it will be to resume the process when inflationary pressures have dramatically increased the cost of the project.
Gichigami Water Walk to raise awareness of new metallic sulfide mine proposals in the Lake Superior watershed
On Saturday, September 14, 2024, the Gichigami Water Walk, organized by members of the Bad River and Menominee Tribal Nations, will call attention to the proposed Copperwood Mine in Michigan’s western Upper Peninsula near the shores of Lake Superior, Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park and the North Country Trail. The walk will also call attention to the reopening of the White Pine Mine that had been defeated in large part by the Bad River Train Blockade in July 1996. (https://captimes.com/opinion/column/al-gedicks-acid-train-blockade-anniversary-holds-lessons-for-todays-activists/article_726a0d5b-1a3c-534c-80f9-3f5038f34dd2.html)
Organizers emphasize that the Water Walk is not a protest; it is a ceremony to honor our connection to the Land, Water, and all the diverse Lifeforms with whom our own wellbeing is intertwined. Members of Bad River, Red Cliff, the Menominee, the Keweenaw Bay Indian Communitym Lac Vieux Deseet, Lac du Flambeau, and their allies, will carry Nibi (Water) from the Montreal River to the shores of Lake Superior.
The route will take participants through the towns of Ironwood, Bessemer and Wakefield, and past the proposed Copperwood mine site. The total distance is 31 miles but participants may walk as short or as long as they like because Water Walks follow a relay format. There will be regular checkpoints with vehicles waiting to carry walkers in need of a rest on to later points in the route. The Walk is scheduled to begin at 8 am CT and conclude at 5 pm CT, to be followed by a Feast and Speakers in the State Park picnic area. For more information on the Water Walk, contact: ProtectThePorkies@gmail.com
The proposed Copperwood mine would be the closest metallic sulfide mine to Lake Superior in history
Unlike the 99% pure native copper mines of the past, the Copperwood mine would have an ore grade of less than 1.5%, meaning that 99% of what comes out of the ground will NOT be copper, but 50 plus million tons of sulfide-bearing heavy metal-laden mine waste, stored in a waste storage site, known as a tailings basin, covering 323 acres. These tailings have a long history of failures that have released toxic wastes into the environment and endangered the lives of those downstream from these facilities. These failures are becoming even more probable due to climate change.
A new model, just released by the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC), shows that in the event of a dam rupture at the proposed Copperwood Mine, a massive flood of waste containing arsenic and mercury could reach both Lake Superior and the Presque Isle River in the Porcupine Mountains State Park in as little as 21 minutes in one projection.
The report states that the waste flood would reach up to 45 feet high in some areas and concludes, “these results suggest unacceptable consequences for downstream lands and waters.”
Oneida County Board Chairman introduces a resolution to allow mining in the Town of Lynne
In 2018, more than 60% of Oneida County voters rejected opening public lands in Lynne for mining. Despite this vote, Oneida County Board Chair Scott Holewinski introduced a resolution to give authority to the Forestry, Land and Recreation Committee to consider unsolicited inquiries regarding mining on county land at the August 20 County Board meeting. Karl Fate, with Oneida County Clean Waters Action (occwa.org), spoke against the resolution on August 20, citing the 2018 referendum. “If the Lynne site is leased, it will be a colossal betrayal of the public’s trust.”
Vancouver-based Valhalla Metals Chairman Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse had contacted Holewinski and county board supervisor Bob Almekinder in June to organize a meeting to discuss leasing the Lynne “massive sulfide project” to explore and possibly mine the zinc sulfide ore deposit. The Lynne deposit contains 5.6 million tons of zinc, lead and silver is in western Oneida County less than a mile from the Willow Flowage, a state-designated “outstanding water resource.”
Toronto-based Green Light Metals (GLM) has also expressed interest in the Lynne deposit. GLM had planned to begin two exploration drilling projects in Wisconsin: 99 holes at the Wausau-Reef gold deposit an eight holes at the Medford-Bend copper and gold deposit. As a result of citizen and tribal pressure on the DNR to enforce drilling regulations, not a single bore-hold has been drilled at either the Reef or Bend sites.
On August 12, Holewinski and county board vice chair, Russ Fisher met officials with the Wisconsin Counties Association and Steve Donohue, a director of GLM in Madison. Oneida County Board Supervisor Steve Schreier called Holewinski’s conduct “unprofessional.” The board voted 13-6 in opposition to the resolution.
Oneida County shoots down mining resolution as companies express interest in sulfide mine
Membership Renewal Reminder
If the date of your mailing label is anytime before 09/24, it means your annual membership is due ($15 for regular or $5 for senior/low income. Thank you for your support in our efforts to protect our precious waters.
Stay tuned, Al Gedicks, Executive Secretary
