Polymet is a foreign, Canadian extractive resource entity backed by Swiss multinational Glencore. Glencore has been cited for human rights abuses in the Congo and Columbia. Glencore currently owns about a quarter of PolyMet stock. Most of the copper from PolyMet’s mine will be exported to China.
- EPA: “According to [PolyMet’s) DEIS [Draft Environmental Impact Study], all waste rock at the site is acid generating, and acidic water moving through waste rock and tailings will mobilize metals and sulfates, leaching them into groundwater and surface water…based on our review of the DEIS, EPA has rated the DEIS as environmentally Unsatisfactory – Inadequate. Environmentally Unsatisfactory (EU) indicates that our review has identified adverse environmental impacts that are of sufficient magnitude that EPA believes that the proposed action must not proceed as proposed.” (EPA Letter / February 2010)
- The proposed mine site is within the Superior National Forest, where open pit strip mining is not allowed. PolyMet will take about 6,700 acres of public land from the Superior National Forest. Iron Range Resources provided PolyMet with a $4 million loan to buy land that will, in turn, be swapped with Superior National Forest land. The mine will directly destroy more than 850 acres of high-quality wetlands with more than 650 additional acres of wetlands indirectly impaired. The total wetlands impact would be more than 1,500 acres. The vast majority of the required wetlands mitigation will occur outside the St. Louis River watershed.
- The mine will result in seepage of high sulfate concentrations and create high risk situations for mercury methylation. Methyl mercury is the active form of mercury that accumulates in fish and is toxic to humans and wildlife.
- The mine is expected to generate nearly 400 million tons of waste rock and account for an annual carbon footprint of 767,648 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions. Reactive waste rock piles would be permanently left on the land – ranging in size from 70 to 560 acres in size, and from 13 to 20 stories high.
- The project proposes to store mine tailings and toxic waste materials in an existing mine tailings basin that has current basin stability problems. The existing basin is located at Hoyt Lakes – 50 miles from Duluth.
- The mine site is located within the 1854 Treaty Ceded Territory, where the Bois Forte, Fond du Lac, and Grand Portage Anishinaabeg Nations retain hunting, fishing and gathering off-reservation rights.
- Manoomin (natural wild rice) has enormous ecological value - protecting water quality, reducing algae blooms, and providing habitat for fish, mammals and wildfowl.
- Minnesota’s wild rice/sulfate standard - 10 milligrams per liter (mg/L) - protects tribal resources, natural food and a critical ecosystem. Sulfate pollution from mining kills entire stands of manoomin
- Manoomin stands serve as resting, foraging, nesting, and brood rearing sites for both migratory and resident water birds. It is one of the most important and nutritional foods for waterfowl in Minnesota. From early May to late November, ducks, geese, and other water birds feed on the sprouting seeds, young shoots, and ripe grain. More than 35 species of shore birds and wading birds have been observed using manoomin fields.
- Manoomin is a vital cultural, spiritual, and food resource for the Anishinaabe people.
- PolyMet, and sulfide mining in general, is supported by Governor Mark Dayton, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Sen. Al Franken, Rep. Chip Cravaack, and by a majority of Minnesota legislators.