Polymet Mine Argumentative Paper

Mining companies haven’t improved the conditions of these communities rather, they’ve mistreated and abused their power. Something’s that attribute to mining is displacement of communities, poor work conditions, mining induces violence and conflict. Therefore, turning a blind to these issues is an easy way to disregard the fact that Canadian policies are false and

Mining is harmful to the great outdoors, polluting bodies of water and harming the environment. The PolyMet mine will damage the surrounding area and possibly harm the Boundary waters, which is one of the only untouched places in Minnesota.

After weeks of in-depth research, I feel that I am well educated on the issue of mountaintop removal. I have seen many of the negative side effects of the blasting, harvesting, mining, and reclamation of the mountains and its impact on the environment. The natives of Appalachia, as well as in many nearby regions, are exposed to harmful toxins in the air, water and even the land. The mining business is dangerous and risky. It puts the miners in peril on the job and brings worry to the families waiting for them back home. I realize the danger and costs of mountaintop removal and will begin with a simple question: is coal worth it?

These mines are devastating to everything surrounding them if they are not regulated and managed correctly, and there is one trying to be built up in Alaska. If built this mine is to be the largest open pit mine to ever be built in the existence of all mankind. Contrary to its size its name does not give convey its magnitude. The name being simply known as The Pebble

For the past 40 years, mining has been completed by mountaintop removal in the Appalachia Mountains. However, this method has pros and cons to the original coal mining process that has some wonder if it is an improvement at all. The old mining method employed several thousand of men but did not destroy valuable land for plants and animals.

As humans we rely on the resources around us because we do not have fur coats to protect us from weather, or fast speed to keep us safe from predators. The resources we need have to be mined, and thus the PolyMet mine debate is born. The PolyMet mine is a great idea, and we should follow through with it.

If PolyMet’s mine creates a disastrous pollution the people will have to clean it up. The tax payers in the future will end up footing the bill for this project. In a town where there are barely any jobs for the people this will send them into financial ruin. Also, the cleanup cost is extremely unpredictable and any clean up contract or financial contract that is made with PolyMet is not going to cover this cleanup cost because it is unpredictable. The people will have to pay the cleanup cost. If PolyMet became unable to complete the project the state will not receive any money that they put into the project. This will also guarantee money shortage. Some might say that this project will help the town find it’s footing in the long haul and therefore we should support it. They are wrong. This project is a disaster waiting to happen because the true magnitude of it is unpredictable and it is impossible to solve a problem that one did not see coming.

PolyMet is planning on mining for copper, nickel, and cobalt in northeast Minnesota. PolyMet will be mining in an area of 6,650 acres which they will be exchanging with The Forest Service for 6,690 acres of PolyMet’s land. There mining operation will go on for 20 years and will process 225 million tons of ore. The project will employ 360 people directly and around 600 people indirectly, and will have an estimated earnings of $515 million annually. Ones they have the correct permits it will take 18-24 months.

A company called PolyMet wants to build a copper-nickel mine in Northern Minnesota. It would infringe on Superior National Forest, where many species and geographical elements would be disrupted. PolyMet plans on mining for 20 years, and afterwards will do its best to repair and return the land to its original state. There are numerous debates and arguments over whether they should be allowed to mine on the land. The state owns the land, but the company owns its mineral rights. (BC Hydro, 2013, p. X) This causes conflict with many different groups and clashes between what is more important: economic opportunities or the effects on the population. My opinion is that the dangerous effects far outweigh the gain.

Northern. Ontario is an area richly endowed with metallic mineral resources. It is one of the most important mineral resource regions in Canada if not in the world. One only needs to look at the volume of mineral production to support this view. The region produces nearly half of the world’s nickel and a substantial portion of the nation’s gold, silver, copper, zinc, uranium, cobalt and platinum metals. For a hundred years the federal and Provincial governments have mismanaged these non renewable mineral resources and our renewable forestry resources and in doing

Mining is the process or industry of obtaining coal or other minerals from a mine. A new mining project, called the Back Forty, is was proposed and is located on the Michigan and Wisconsin border. This project is said to begin around 2020 and created concern for some people. The Aquila Resources Inc. is the company behind this proposal, and they said “it will invest more than $300 million to extract gold, zinc, copper and silver along the Menominee River” (Bergquist, 2016). The Menominee river is part of the border between Wisconsin and Michigan. The mine will have large effects on the environment and economy for Lake Michigan and Wisconsin. The next paragraphs will discuss the positive and negative effects that the Back Forty could create. One side would be for the mine and say that the economic benefits would outweigh the negative effects on the environment, while the opposing side would say the opposite.

Mining is a staple industry of Canadian History. Regardless of the controversies that arise in today’s modern society, debating its environmental effects, economical benefits or the undetermined future of where it will lead the country, the mining industry is always a factor for the government to consider. Thus, by extension the task of reaching an informed decision weighs heavily on politicians; but unknowingly, presses on the concerns of citizens, as what the government decides will reflect on the population. Consequently, readers will wish to understand the significance of the mining industry for their future, yet, an understanding of the industry’s influence on Canada throughout time must have clarification.

Where in countries such as Chile and Argentina, policies have been implemented favoring MNCs as opposed to indigenous people. These policies have given these MNCs more or less absolute right to remove indigenous people from mineral rich land. (Gordon & Webber, 69) Furthermore, mining projects such as the Pascua Lima gold mine can have massive externalities both socially and environmentally. The proposed plan to transfer roughly 10 hectares of glacier sitting above the Huasca Valley would have robbed farmers of their water source, drastically altered local habitats and the cyanide run off from cyanide heaping would have contaminated local water. (Gordon & Webber,

We, the state of Minnesota, have a big decision coming up when it comes to mining the copper and nickel in the boundary waters. Sulfide mining has been stereotyped as a major pollutant to nearby waterways. As this may have been proven true with other mining corporations, PolyMet Mining has found a new way of reusing the sulfide as renewable energy instead of flushing it back into the waterways. Minnesota is home to one of the largest deposits of copper, nickel, and other precious metals. Currently there is only one copper and nickel mine currently being used in the United States. With the U.S consuming more than 202,000 tons of nickel annually, there could be a shortage of copper and nickel in the near future. Many commonly used equipment has copper and nickel in it. Some examples of this equipment and common everyday things include: Food preparation equipment, mobile phones, medical equipment, transportation, buildings, and power generation. With a high demand for copper and nickel, not being able to replace these metals may result in an increase of prices of these commonly used items (Where). For those people who are against the mining, imagine life without mobile phones and medical equipment. Copper and nickel is more important than most people think.

PolyMet is planning to develop a sulfide mine on public land close to Hoyt Lakes and Babbitt. If they acquire the necesary permits to begin mining, they will remove copper, nickel, and other precious metals from three mines on site. They will mine for 20 years, extracting 72 million pounds of copper, 15 million of nickel, and 106,000 ounces of other precious metals a year, which will leave an estimated 500 years of pollution. Polymet plans to contain the waste at the mine site by placing it in a stockpile with a groundwater containment system. After completing the 20 years, they will backfill the waste into the mining pit. At the processing plant, they will contain the contaminated water by using reverse osmosis, a process that forces