Estimated $1 trillion in the ground, but mining critics are concerned about BWCAW (MN)

Duluth News Tribune ^ | 6-21-10 | John Myers

[WOBBLY BOB]

ALONG THE SOUTH KAWISHIWI RIVER — Just outside the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilder­ness, deep below the lakes and streams that have defined this area’s value for centuries, lies a fortune to be made. Everyone involved in Minnesota’s copper mining controversy agrees there’s an incredibly rich deposit of nickel, platinum, palladium, copper and other high-demand minerals under this rugged land. “The Duluth Complex is perhaps the world’s largest untapped resource of (copper, nickel and platinum group metals) with multibillion tons of geologic resources estimated to be worth more than $1 trillion,”

[WOBBLY BOB]

If this goes anything like our oil reserves, our government will make it off limits to US mining and we'll be resigned to mining for it in Afghanistan or Iraq while China and Russia drill in Duluth.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Mining companies should cut MN residents in on the royalties. That’ll take care of the NIMBY idiots.

[mamelukesabre]

Afghanistan is a rocky wasteland. Probably much easier to extract the ore there without upsetting environmentalists. So now the question is...how do we americans profit from extracting afghani ore?

[jiggyboy]

All of a sudden we are reading about trillion-dollar mining deposits in two different places? I’m a little dubious.

[mamelukesabre]

Half of minnesota land is indian land. You can bet your booty the indians will get THEIR cut of the booty. And probably tax free to boot.

[count-your-change]

I’d like to read the article but I’m not interested in ‘signing in’ to the paper.

[CaptainAmiigaf]

All too correct. With the IDIOTS in positions of power in the USA now, the very settling and establishment of the United States would be ruled against by the courts.
Good Heavens...cutting down forests, digging holes in the ground, drilling holes deep into the earth just for OIL (when whales oil was still available), erecting DAMS across great rivers, cutting rail track paths through pristine mountain ranges, erecting building so tall they forced poor little birds to go around them....the criminal activities would have been halted in their tracks.
Sadly, I’m not kidding.

[WOBBLY BOB]

http://www.bugmenot.com/

[Alberta's Child]

If this goes anything like our oil reserves, our government will make it off limits to US mining . . .

Well, not exactly. It already IS off limits to U.S. mining -- and a lot of other things, too.

The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness is one of the most pristine wilderness areas in the U.S. Access is limited by a strict canoe/camp permit system, and you can't even bring bottles and cans into that place.

[daler]

Northern MN has been, is, and likely always will be "governed" by the left; and, accordingly, its economic prosperity rivals that of Appalachia.

Although a Republican almost needs to carry a passport in that part of the state, the Dems have always managed to blame the economic woes of the area on the GOP.

Still, with the left running things, you can rest assured that as broke as the area is, those trillions will stay in the ground.

[revtown]

Here is a link to the article in the St Paul Pioneer Press:
http://www.twincities.com/minnesota/ci_15340289?nclick_check=1