A few ways in which these characteristics are showcased are through Porcupine Mountains State Park, located on Lake Superior near Ontonagon, and the North Country Trail, the longest National Scenic Trail in the US and a recently designated piece of the National Parks System. Unfortunately, with natural beauty also often comes resource extraction, and the Superior watershed has been plagued with more than its fair share of mines, logging operations, and more.
The Copperwood Project is a proposed copper sulfide mine at the juncture of Porcupine Mountains State Park, the North Country Trail, and Lake Superior. It would be the closest sulfide mine to Lake Superior in history, with plans to mine up to 100 feet from the lake’s surface. It also plans to host operations directly adjacent to and mine underneath the Presque Isle Scenic Area of the park.
The proposed mine’s average ore grade is only 1.5%, which means that 1.5% of what they pull out if the ground will be copper, and the rest will be sulfide-bearing mine waste that will need to be stored, onsite, permanently. To do so, the mining company is currently destroying wetlands to construct a 320-acre tailings pond to hold the waste, which will sit approximately 2 miles from the Lake Superior shoreline on terrain sloping toward the lake.
Further, the immediate area in Ontonagon and Gogebic counties has seen two separate severe, 1-in-1,000-year storms in the past decade which have caused significant damage to roads, bridges, and infrastructure (1, 2). This tailings pond is designed to withstand only 1-in-100-year storms (see comment 52), which are much less severe; this makes a rupture of the tailings dam very likely to fail.
This model from the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC) shows the path of destruction when the western portion of the dam collapses.
A study done in 2012 found that, of the 14 copper sulfide mines producing nearly all copper in the United States, 92% failed to contain seepage, and every single one spilled toxic waste into the surrounding environment. Some like to refer to Marquette County’s Eagle Mine as the model for environmentally sound mining, yet even Eagle Mine has experienced spills and several instances of high levels of chronic wastewater toxicity.
Highland Copper was considered for a $50 million taxpayer-funded grant from the Michigan Strategic Fund's SOAR fund in 2024. Despite strong and abundant public comment given at MSF meetings opposing the grant, the MSF approved the grant on March 26, 2024. However, that wasn’t the end of the story for this grant – MSF’s SOAR grants also must be approved by both the Michigan House and Senate Appropriations Committees.
The grant passed in the MI House Appropriations Committee with a vote of 21-5 with 2 abstaining votes. However, when it reached the Senate, there was much stronger opposition. In May 2024, the MI Senate Appropriations Committee avoided a vote to approve or reject the grant, but chose not to include it in its 2025 budget when all other SOAR funding was included. We took this as a cautious vistory. However, now, the grant has been revived in the Senate because of a new letter of support from the Gogebic County board, and we expect it to reach a vote by early December 2024. We must use our voices to speak against this grant. Visit Protect the Porkies to learn more and submit a comment!
Copperwood’s lack of funding is how we’re going to prevent the mine. Together with Protect the Porkies, we’ve compiled a list of current and potential investors we expect Highland Copper to target, and are conducting outreach to those investors to make sure they’re aware of the massive opposition to the mine and the significant concerns behind it. Sign the Change.org petition to voice your opposition to the project and show investors and state authorities that we won’t stand for the destruction of our lakeshore.
Highland Copper Information:
2024 Highland Copper Corporate Presentation
2023 Highland Copper Financial Statement
General Copperwood Information:
2023 Copperwood Feasibility Study
2024 Porcupine Mountains State Park - Copperwood Mine Factsheet
Permits:
Copperwood Wetland Impacts Permit Application
2018 Copperwood Wetland Impacts Final Permit
2018 Mining Permit Public Comments and Responses
Additional Permitting Documents via MIEnviroPortal
MSF Grant:
March 2024 (FINAL) Michigan Strategic Fund Grant Proposal and Terms
January 2024 Michigan Strategic Fund Grant Proposal and Terms
