Brimson community concerned about DNR copper/nickel leases

Talk about it

On the dark and stormy evening of March 25, Petrell Hall in Fairbanks Township, Brimson, was bursting at the seams, with over 60 residents from the adjoining rural areas gathered to hear representatives from the Dept. of Natural Resources Lands and Minerals Division talk about eminent domain issues and the geology of the area.

Vickie Sellner, attorney, spoke about eminent domain issues in mining, and John Engesser, geologist and engineer, gave information from his areas of expertise.

Lori Andresen, Todd Ronning, Bob Tammen, and Kristin Larsen, area home-owners, were also available as part of the panel, to help sort out challenges and issues in this on-going debate.

The Brimson area townships sit atop the Duluth Complex, a known geologic body of rock within which copper, nickel, possibly cobalt, palladium and other minerals are found. One of the many over-riding problems of Cu-Ni mining is the sulfide ore body mined. This is different from the current mining of iron bearing rock. When water and air touch the iron ore deposits and waste rock along the Iron Range, rust forms just as it does in a metal bucket we might leave outside by mistake over the summer or winter; when air and morning dew hit the waste rock from sulfide deposits, sulphuric acid is formed, which runs into the water tables and into all the adjoining water courses. It is well-known that our region straddles three water drainage basins; water moves from this region toward Hudson’s Bay, toward the Atlantic Ocean through Lake Superior and the other Great Lakes, and down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico. As we can see from the catastrophic events recently in the Red River Valley, humans have a very difficult time containing water from its natural flowages.

For more information, pick up a paper at the Chronicle office.

Tags: brimson, news, dnr