YOU can TAKE ACTION:  Sign the Petition to Require Enforcement on Acid Mine Drainage Pollution.  Or Print and Distribute.   Beyond decades of known Dunka pit violations, newly discovered Spruce Road example of long-standing Acid Mine Drainage near the Boundary Waters shows high sulfide-mining pollution potential and low enforcement standards.

Recently discovered acid mine drainage (AMD) is exceeding water quality standards right now at a sulfide-mining exploration site just two miles from the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.  (You can scroll down and click on the attached photos to view a Minnesota example of AMD.)  The site is located on the Spruce Road, approximately 15 miles southeast of Ely and about two miles from the South Kawishiwi River and Little Gabbro Lake BWCAW entry points. (See interactive map.)

The site has been creating and discharging AMD during the 36 years since a mining company excavated some of the surface ore.  The site was excavated by International Nickel Company (INCO) in 1974 as a “bulk sample”, a small-scale test strip-mine.  Extensive characterization of the site, the mineralization, and the pollution potential was part of the Regional Copper Nickel Study during the '70s.  This included detailed site drawings and 2 years of  results of monitoring and water analysis showing AMD.  Current lab tests show drainage from the site still contains copper, arsenic and other metals at levels which are harmful to aquatic life and human health. 

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) cannot demonstrate that it has monitored the site whatsoever since 1976.  When asked about the lab tests, the MPCA replied that the agency is unlikely to take any action to further analyze the drainage or reclaim the site to prevent the toxic pollution from continuing.

    “The lab results fly in the face of what mining companies and our state agencies have been telling the public,” says Betsy Daub, Policy Director for the Friends. “The fact is that Minnesota’s sulfide ore is capable of producing toxic acid mine drainage, and the Pollution Control Agency and Department of Natural Resources have not addressed it for over 30 years.”

The INCO project excavated about 10,000 tons of ore.  The "Twin Metals" mine proposed in the same area would extract approximately 40,000 tons of ore each day, creating a massive acid mind drainage problem that would be far more difficult to manage.

Environmental groups are circulating a petition calling for the governor to appoint to our regulatory agencies commissioners who will enforce protective laws and rules to prevent acid mine drainage.  Some groups are asking the industry and the agencies to demonstrate the technologies they promise would protect us from long-term AMD pollution by treating the INCO Spruce Road and the Dunka pit wastes accordingly.  This could be an opportunity to build public trust in the ability of companies and regulators to perform according to expectations.

News Coverage

Click on attachment below for a Picture of Acid Mine Drainage at the INCO test site near Spruce Road, St. Louis County, MN.  Click again to magnify further.  These images show the typical orange precipitate from AMD.

Photos provided courtesy of Friends of the BWCAW.