MARQUETTE, MI — State regulators have approved the modification of an environmental quality permit for a controversial nickel and copper mining project scheduled to begin production next year in the Upper Peninsula.
The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality on Friday, June 28 signed-off on the modified air permit for the Rio Tinto Eagle Mine project at 65100 AAA Road, about 30 miles northwest of Marquette in Michigamme Township.
The Marquette Mining Journal reports that owners of the controversial mine, opposed by environmental advocates in the U.P., have made several changes since the project’s initial air permit application was approved in 2007.
Modifications to the project include elimination of a dust collector and on-site ore crusher, and the addition of an enclosed storage building. The mine is in the process of being sold by the London-based Rio Tinto Group for $325 million to Lundin Mining Corp., headquartered in Toronto, Canada.
The approval follows a public comment period and March 12 public hearing on the project modification at Northern Michigan University in Marquette. The DEQ issued an89-page document compiling public comment and the agency response.
Meanwhile, a Marquette environmental group is pledging to sue the federal Environmental Protection Agency over the project, alleging the project is violating the Clean Water Act. The group, Save The Wild U.P., is circulating a petition seeking a federal investigation into what it calls a “regulatory fiasco at the Eagle Mine.”
Save The Wild U.P. issued a statement on its Facebook page in response to the air permit approval, alleging the DEQ ignored public demand for mine air filtration.
"That the Michigan DEQ would approve these modifications only bolsters our call for a federal corruption investigation,” said organization director Alexandra Thebert. “This regulatory agency is not acting in the best interests of taxpayers.”
In response to a 2012 letter to the editor in opposition to the mine, a spokesperson for Rio Tinto said the mine, developed using an underground mining method called “long-hole stope mining," will have a "regular and rigorous groundwater quality-monitoring program."
In January, the federal Environmental Protection Agency quashed a proposed 21-mile mine service road through the county that would have provided a convenient route for trucks hauling ore from the mine to a processing mill in Humboldt Township.
Officials said the proposed route "would have significant direct and indirect impacts on high quality wetland and stream resources, as well as on wildlife.”
The mine, which is approximately 50 percent completed, is estimated to yield approximately 23,000 metric tons of nickel and 22,000 tons of copper during its first three years. The mine will also produce precious metals and cobalt.
Rio Tinto discovered the Eagle deposit in 2002.
Email Garret Ellison or follow him on Twitter.
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