Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat News
The Newsletter of the Great Lakes
Aquatic Habitat Network and Fund
The Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat News is the newsletter of the Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat Network and Fund, published five times per year. The News is intended to provide a forum for the free exchange of ideas among citizens and organizations working to protect aquatic habitats in the Great Lakes Basin.
Volume 15, Number 6 • Spring 2007
Lake Superior
Basin Update
Acid Mining in the Upper Peninsula Update:
MDEQ Reverses Decision!
By Carol Martin, Lake Superior Conservancy and Watershed Council
The Department of Environmental Quality
announced on March 1, 2007 that it has
withdrawn its proposed decision to
approve a permit for the Kennecott Eagle
Minerals Company to conduct mining
operations at the proposed Eagle Project
Mine. The decision was made after
discovering that two reports on the
structural integrity of the mine were not
properly made part of the public record or given a comprehensive
technical review.
DEQ Director, Stephen Chester, has ordered a third-party
independent investigation of the DEQ’s handling of the mining
permit. The review was conducted by an independent team headed
by Dr. Donald L. Inman, president of EcoLogic, Ltd. The full report is
available on the website, www.michigan.gov/deq/, direct link is
under Issue Watch, Kennecott Eagle. The investigation concluded
that there was no intent to withhold information, however the
report contains eight recommendations to improve the process. The
DEQ intends to have an independent expert analyze all available
geotechnical engineering data and information prior to making a
decision concerning when the resumption of processing of the Eagle
Project Mine application will take place.
Although this decision provides some breathing space, the battle is
not over yet. Sulfide mining in Michigan and the Lake Superior Basin
is a huge threat to the ecological health of the entire Lake Superior
Watershed.
Scientists from United States Geological Survey (USGS) have been
taking a close look at the whole region they call the Mid-continent
rift system. They have found significant sulfide deposits containing
varying amounts of nickel (Ni), copper (Cu), platinum-group metals
(PGM's), and cobalt (Co).
The Mid-continent rift system encompasses most of the
northwestern portion of Lake Superior with favorable targets for
mining identified on the Yellow Dog Plains and Echo Lake in Michigan
and the Mellen Complex in Wisconsin. It also includes known sulfidebearing
areas in the Duluth Complex in Minnesota. In addition, the
USGS website identifies portions of the Mid-continent rift southwest
of the Lake Superior region as possible areas that may also contain
undiscovered sulfide deposits.
The major impacts of sulfide mining is the waste of the process used
to extract the metals, commonly referred to as acid mine drainage,
AMD. AMD is metal-rich water formed from chemical reaction
between water and rocks containing pyrite, a sulfur bearing mineral.
Metal-rich drainage can also occur in mineralized areas that have not
been mined.
Sulfides decrease water’s pH, making it more acidic, and kill many
aquatic organisms such as mosses and algae that form the base of
the lake’s food web. This acid water can also be toxic to
aquatic animals directly. As anyone who has fed a gold fish too much
food will notice, solid waste decomposition can also raise the acid
levels in water similar to what the addition of sulfites would do. High
acidity in an aquarium can be seen to cause fish to shed the mucosal
protective layer on their fins so they look ragged, become lethargic
and have difficulty swimming. If left untreated, such poor water
quality will result in the fish bleeding internally and dying in a short
time. AMD can also contaminate drinking water. I know of no sulfide
mining operation has not caused contamination or required
expensive clean ups.
Kennecott Minerals, based out of Salt Lake City, Utah, now owns
462,000 acres of mineral rights in Marquette and Baraga Counties. It
calls this its Eagle Project and its drill rigs dot the Yellow Dog Plains,
some coming unnervingly close to the Salmon-Trout River that flows
into Lake Superior. Kennecott Minerals says it’s looking for nickel,
copper, gold, zinc and other base minerals, some of which are found
in an ore called Yellow Dog Peridodite. Another valuable mineral
found in Yellow Dog Peridodite is copper sulfide.
To keep posted on this issue and get involved, please visit the
Save the Wild U.P. website, http://www.savethewildup.org/.
For more information on the Yellow Dog Plains, visit http://www.yellowdogwatershed.org/html/mining.html
Thanks to Michelle Halley, National Wildlife Federation
for details on the recent events.
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