New life for Minnesota’s first copper nickel mine?

Two decades after releasing its first plan, the company hoping to develop Minnesota’s first copper nickel mine will go back to the drawing board to update its proposal. It’s an effort to kickstart the development of one of the world’s largest untapped reserves of strategic minerals after years, according to the News Tribune.

NewRange Copper Nickel, a joint venture formed between mining companies Glencore and Teck to advance the NorthMet project near Hoyt Lakes and Babbitt, said that while it was confident in its existing design, it would spend the next year looking at tailings management, dam construction, water quality management, the amount of ore it processes and greenhouse gases.

“It’s been 20 years since the original plan,” Colin Marsh, NewRange’s director of external affairs, told the News Tribune. “You have a bigger team with more resources taking a look (at) whether there can be improvements. Again, the company stands by the original plan, but there are possibly some opportunities.”

The project remains bogged down in environmental and permitting legal challenges. NewRange evidently believes openness to a revised design could help get the project back on track.

The company has long planned to use the old Erie Mining Co./LTV Steel Corp. buildings and tailings basin near Hoyt Lakes to process the ore and store the waste rock left behind after stripping the ore of copper, nickel, cobalt and other metals.

Now it’s considering whether it could store the tailings in its open pit mine and if it would be better to build the existing basin up with a centerline or downstream method of construction instead of the upstream method it is currently planning.

The use of upstream construction for tailings dams and basins has come under global scrutiny after high-profile failures.

NewRange has also raised the possibility of speeding up the excavation process, shortening the life of the mine and its impact. Other modifications are also on the table. One thing’s for sure. The economic impact on the Iron Range would be welcomed.

Industry groups MiningMinnesota and Jobs for Minnesotans lauded NewRange’s announcement.

“NewRange’s decision to embark on these comprehensive studies is a significant step forward and demonstrates a deep commitment to sustainability and responsible resource development,” Jobs for Minnesotans said in a news release.

Environmental opponents called for NewRange to scrap its original plan and start over from scratch. But it may be only a matter of time before the strategic imperative for Minnesota’s minerals leads to their development.