Wisconsin Resources Protection Council

August 9, 2018

Mr. Alan Hair, President and Chief Executive Officer

Hudbay Minerals

25 York Street, Suite 800

Toronto, Ontario  M5J 2V5

Canada

Dear Mr. Hair,

We are writing in regard to Hudbay’s 10.9% investment in Aquila Resources’ Back Forty metallic sulfide project in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. While Aquila has celebrated its recent receipt of the final permit for its controversial open pit sulfide mine next to the Menominee River, the mine is no closer to construction now than when the project was first discovered in 2002.

January 14, 2016

Dear WRPC Member,

In case you missed the big news over the holidays, Aquila Resources is once again seeking permits from Michigan’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) for its Back Forty open pit metallic sulfide mine next to the Menominee River. The project had been suspended in July 2012 when Hudbay Minerals of Canada (51% owner of the Back Forty project) pulled out of the partnership with Aquila (49% owner of the project).

by Al Gedicks

Z Magazine, vol. 26, no. 10 (October 2013)

Armed guards protecting extractive resource operations is not an uncommon sight in Central and South American countries where there is growing community resistance to ecologically destructive mining and oil projects. As early as 2008 the United Nations documented “an emerging trend in Latin America but also in other regions of the world indicates situations of private security companies protecting transnational extractive corporations whose employees are often involved in suppressing legitimate social protest of communities and human rights and environmental organizations where these corporations operate.” (Human Rights Council, Report of the Working Group on the use of mercenaries as a means of violating human rights and impeding the exercise of the right of people to self-determination).

by Al Gedicks

Z Magazine, February 2013

Prior to investing in new resource colonies, multinational mining corporations frequently change a country’s mining laws to remove restrictions on foreign ownership, reduce taxes, ease environmental protections and guarantee access to water supplies needed for mining. During the 1990s, under pressure from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, over 90 states in the Global South changed their mining laws to attract foreign mining investment. These neocolonial measures, often called “neoliberal reforms,” are now being used to open up new mining projects in the Lake Superior region of Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota.

May 4, 2012

Dear WRPC Member,

Gogebic Taconite (GTac) may have temporarily abandoned its proposed open pit iron mine in the Penokee Hills but company spokesman Bob Seitz says they still want Wisconsin’s mining law changed. Efforts are already under way to develop a new “consensus” on mine legislation that failed to pass the Senate in the last session.

August 31, 2011

Dear WRPC Member,

As you know, WRPC, the Center for Biological Diversity and Laura Gauger are embroiled in a lawsuit against Kennecott Minerals over ongoing violations of the Clean Water Act at the Flambeau Mine site near Ladysmith, Wisconsin. What happens at Flambeau stands to impact ALL of us who are fighting ill-advised mining proposals in the Great Lakes region.

You know all too well what we mean. There are now over a dozen mining projects in various stages of permitting in the Lake Superior region of northern Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota. All of these projects have the potential to affect the health and environmental quality of life for communities that depend upon clean water and clean air for their economy and their culture. Some mining projects, like Kennecott’s proposed Eagle Mine in Michigan are poised to begin underground construction as early as mid-September. But this is not a done deal. There are still efforts to delay construction, including an administrative appeal of the permit decision. We must do whatever we can to support our friends who are “on the ground” and have dedicated their lives to protecting the water.