Mining proposal would threaten Menominee watershed, destroy burial grounds
Few and far between are the opportunities to leverage 10 minutes of our time into a major win for the common good. This is one of those crucial moments. A key public comment period on the design of Aquila Resource’s Back 40 Mine’s tailings containment dam closes on July 5.
Alert citizens are warning us that an ill-advised proposal for a massive metallic sulfide gold mine located on the banks of the Menominee River, an important tributary of Lake Michigan, would bring intolerable and long lasting risks.
Mining operations exist throughout the Upper Peninsula interspersed among picturesque scenery, such as this fenced off area near the Eagle Mine nickel/copper mine in Michigamme Township, near Marquette, in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. (Photo: Rod Sanford | Lansing State Journal)
The dangers: When sulfide minerals are exposed to air and water by mining, the result is acid mine drainage (AMD) pollution. That process dissolves toxic heavy metals into ground and surface water, creating protracted pollution problems.
Threatened: the Menominee River (the largest watershed in the Upper Peninsula), downstream Lake Michigan, and decades of clean water efforts.
In addition, the proposed mine would lead to the destruction of the burial grounds, village sites and notable cultural resources of the Menominee Indian Tribe, which are within the boundaries of the mine’s footprint. That is beyond unacceptable. It is profoundly offensive.
Al Gedicks (Photo: Courtesy photo)
This land along the Menominee River is the tribe’s ancestral homeland. They didn’t leave by choice. An 1836 treaty with the United States forced the tribe to move 60 miles west, to Wisconsin. Today, the Menominee Reservation’s 234,000 acre forestland is famous for its sustainable forestry and timeless beauty.
Notably, Brazil recently banned new tailings dam construction utilizing the design (known as the upstream dam method) that Aquila Resources proposes — and will also decommission 88 existing dams employing that design.
Brazil’s ban follows the death of two hundred and forty Brazilians when a mine tailings dam (of the same design) collapsed on January 25. That dam failure led to a wall of reddish mining sludge surging downstream, burying cars, homes and people.
Eric Hansen (Photo: Courtesy photo)
Key point: Tailings dams (including the proposed Back 40 Mine facility) are constructed out of crushed mine waste rock and soil — not steel and concrete.
Mine tailings are the waste material resulting from the crushing and chemical processing of mineral ores. Notably, tailings often contain lead, mercury, cyanide, arsenic — residual minerals and chemical reagents that can be toxic when released into the environment.
70 million tons of milled tailings and acid-producing waste rock would result from the Back 40 Mine operations, requiring a tailings facility of 123 acres, the equivalent of 100 football fields.
Aquila Resources claims that the chemical-laden wastes, mixed with millions of gallons of water into a slurry, will be safely stored next to the Menominee River in perpetuity.
Basic logic tells us that a dam made of soil and crushed rock will not safeguard these dangerous materials for a lengthy period of time.
Downstream residents rely on the river (which is also the Wisconsin-Michigan border) for their drinking water, fishing and tourism. They are skeptical of the mining company’s safety assurances. Three cities, four towns, eight counties and dozens of tribal governments passed resolutions against the mine.
Also alarming: the mine’s open pit, where ore excavation happens, would be only 150 feet from the river. Picture a hole over twice as deep (700 feet) as the Michigan State Capitol is high (267 feet), that’s also 2,000 feet wide and 2,500 feet long.
When citizens push, governments move into action. Now is the time for that push. Insist on ironclad protection for our waters, no permits for dangerous mines, and that the sacred sites of Native Americans be designated as“no-go areas”, protected from destructive mining plans.
Citizens can send their comments to Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) by July 5, 2019. Freshwater Future provides a nimble way to comment at freshwaterfuture.salsalabs.org/back40safetypermitcommentlettertoegle/
Al Gedicks is emeritus professor of environmental sociology at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. Eric Hansen is an outdoor writer and commentator.
