Metallic Sulfide Mining in the Great Lakes Region

Does Metallic Sulfide Mining Mean the End of Twilight on the Yellow Dog Plains?

A light bleeds through some of the last of the darkest night skies, disturbing the bright, shifting stars of the Milky Way and lighting up some of the sweetest rolling waters, clear trout streams and plains of juicy blueberries and huckleberries the size of grapes. The light shines on the backs of the eagles, chickadees, and warblers and dances around in the magnificent roar of the black bear and the howls of the coyote and gray wolf, ultimately crashing on one of the last truly wild places east of the Mississippi River called the Michigamme Highlands, found in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (UP).

Standing on top of a rock outcrop one can see this light flickering in the distance, and though it is well masked by wind blowing through the jack pines, the sound of drill rigs haunt the Highlands and specifically, Michigan’s Yellow Dog Plains—a large glacial outwash that resembles a giant’s footprint.

The Plains are found in the Escanaba River State Forest and surrounded by many state, federal, and private preservation areas. These include the McCormick Tract Wilderness Area, Huron Islands, the Willow Creek and Braastad Memorial Michigan Nature Preserves, and a 20,000-acre, privately owned Nature Reserve Area called the Huron Mountain Club. The plains are considered an “ecological island,” in reference to the uniquely cold climate and flora and fauna more commonly found in boreal regions hundreds of miles to the north.

The light’s source is a guard shack owned by Rio Tinto (Kennecott Eagle Minerals), an Anglo-Australian mining giant with a poor global reputation as a bad neighbor—the first to apply for a permit to operate a metallic sulfide mine under Michigan’s new, weak non-ferrous mining law (Part 632).

Rio Tinto proposes to mine on public land, only 10 miles from Lake Superior. The corporation aims to blast its portal under a blue ribbon trout stream and through the Eagle Rock outcrop, sacred to the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community (KBIC). KBIC maintains ceded territorial rights to hunt fish and gather on the land that encompasses the Yellow Dog Plains and is strongly opposed to Rio Tinto’s proposed mine.

“Metallic sulfide mining” means extracting metals (such as copper and nickel) from a sulfide ore body. When excavated, if sulfide ore or the tailings piles meet up with water and air, a chemical reaction can create sulfuric acid. Precipitation subsequently causes sulfuric acid to drain from the mine site. This “acid mine drainage” (AMD) can drain into nearby water resources and harm people, plants, animals, and metal and concrete structures. AMD also dissolves heavy metals (lead, zinc, copper, and mercury), allowing them to enter ground and surface water. Exposure to heavy metals through air, food, and water can increase the risk of cancer and other illnesses. Metallic sulfide mines have never failed to pollute in a wet environment.

Many citizens are concerned Kennecott’s project will pave the way to a metallic sulfide and uranium mining district throughout Michigan’s wild UP. And, maybe it’s the extreme winters in the UP, but however daunting it may seem to challenge one of the largest global mining corporations, Michigan’s UP citizens are up for the task. Currently, a coalition of faith-based groups, physicians, local iron ore miners, grassroots organizations, Native American communities, engineers, students and citizens have stalled the Eagle Project. But, the UP’s citizens only represent 3% of Michigan’s population and representatives in Lansing are not listening. The future of one of the Great Lake’s last frontiers stands in the balance, and it will take an unprecedented union of two divided peninsula’s to save the Great Lakes tributaries and the Yellow Dog Plains.