A decision on whether to reissue a permit to mine for the company vying to open Minnesota’s first copper-nickel mine is on hold after the company behind it said it is studying potential changes to the controversial project’s design. Gary Wilson, central region director of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, said in a letter Monday he was pausing his review of whether to accept a judge’s November 2023 recommendation that the DNR deny the project’s permit to mine in light of NewRange Copper Nickel’s August announcement that it was studying whether to change several aspects of its plan. NewRange’s plan for the storage of tailings — crushed-up rock leftover after removing copper, nickel, cobalt and other metals — did not meet the state law, the judge wrote last year, because lining the basin with bentonite and mixing it into the tailings would not ensure the slurry of crushed-up waste rock became nonreactive and wouldn’t prevent water from flowing over or through the waste upon closure. Wilson said the pause, or stay, in his review will last until Aug.14, a year after the company announced it would spend a year studying the potential changes. He added that the stay could be lifted early if the company sticks to the existing design outlined in the permit to mine. PolyMet was a predecessor to NewRange and the project is still referred to as PolyMet in proceedings. Its Northmet project would use the old Erie Mining Co./LTV Steel Corp. buildings and tailings basin near Hoyt Lakes to process the ore extracted from an open-pit mine. “The stay will prevent significant expenditure of time and resources for a matter that may become moot if PolyMet amends or withdraws its permit application, as well as avoid the issuance of an advisory opinion,” Wilson wrote in the letter Monday. In issuing a stay, Wilson sided with a Sept. 30 request by the DNR urging him to pause the proceedings by citing “clear, public evidence that PolyMet may soon make changes that would render this proceeding moot by removing the factual dispute over the effectiveness of the bentonite amendment, which was the sole reason for the current contested case hearing.” Wilson rejected a request by environmental groups and the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa to dismiss the proceeding or reject the permit to mine application altogether. Environmental groups and Indigenous bands have long opposed the NorthMet project, fearing pollution from the mine and tailings could taint nearby waterways, the St. Louis River and Lake Superior. In a statement, JT Haines, northeastern Minnesota program director at the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, one of the groups opposed to the project, said Monday’s decision was “important.” “Rather than continuing to waste scarce resources and everybody’s time, this decision recognizes that PolyMet owes Minnesotans transparency and honesty,” Haines said. “Either PolyMet can confirm that their plan is to continue to push a dangerous and illegal mine plan, or they can go back to the drawing board.” NewRange, which argued Wilson did not have the authority to issue a stay, said in a statement Monday that it was “unfortunate” that the DNR paused the case and declined, for now, to decide on the judge’s recommendation. “While NewRange’s previously announced studies may alter some aspects of the NorthMet Project, there are elements of the recommendation that could affect the design of any nonferrous tailings facility in Minnesota,” said NewRange spokesperson Bruce Richardson. “The DNR has an obligation to determine and communicate what its rules mean. “While the NewRange studies will continue, today’s decision has unnecessarily extended the current uncertainty over the regulation of these facilities.” NewRange’s predecessor, PolyMet, began the environmental review and permitting process in 2004, and it received key state permits in 2018 before numerous legal challenges mounted. But 20 years after it began the permitting process, the company said it was considering changes to its plan, even though it stood by its existing plan. Those potential changes include: ·Storing the tailings in its open-pit mine. ·Building the existing basin up with a centerline or downstream construction method instead of the currently planned upstream method. The use of upstream construction for tailings dams and basins has come under global scrutiny after high-profile failures. ·Sequestering carbon in tailings. ·Increasing the amount of ore it would process from 32,000 tons to 40,000 tons, a move that would shorten the 20-year mine life by five years as the plan to mine a total of 225 million tons of minerals would not change. ·Using different water treatment technologies. ·Moving ore on conveyors instead of diesel trains. Last year, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers revoked the project’s federal discharge permit because it said it did not ensure compliance with the standards of the downstream Fond du Lac Band. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is revisiting the project’s water permit after a court said it did not adequately consider federal regulator concerns that it may not comply with the Clean Water Act.Related Articles Environment | Afton man racks up $44K in fines for beached St. Croix River boat Environment | Red Lake tribal police officer among 2 killed in collision Environment | Minnesota Court of Appeals to take up cannabis licensing dispute Environment | Minnesota offering free access to state parks on Friday after Thanksgiving Day Environment | DWI enforcement campaign set in Minnesota during the holidays