Saturday, January 06, 2007

Non-ferrous Mining in Minnesota

True,

I just watched Almanac North featuring Frank Ongaro representing Mining MN, the non-ferrous organization representing mining interests in the State. Frank mentioned PolyMet, Franconia, Duluth Metals, Teck Cominco, Kennecott. Frank said we need copper and nickel because the world consumes so much, we are a "consuming country, we can't get enough copper and nickel". There was only one pointed question about if there are any environmental concerns of non-ferrous. Frank said how the DNR, MPCA, will be reviewing and expediting the EIS permitting process, he was ambiguous on the time frame, amongst other things. Frank also said how MN has the toughest environmental rules and how taconite production is worse than non-ferrous because of the way taconite is processed.

At the end there was a question posed on screen for people to respond to, people were invited to call with their comments. The show is scheduled to be rebroadcast Sunday at 4:30P.M. on Channel 8 WDSE (PBS).

Is non-ferrous mining right for MN? (or something to that effect)
Or you can reach the Almanac North answering machines at 218-728-0070.


Lori Andresen

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