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Eagle Mine seeks Upper Peninsula minerals leases

Intriguing. That’s how we’d characterize a request from Eagle Mine to lease the mineral rights on thousands of Upper Peninsula acres including a small number of acres in Marquette County.

According to Meagen Morrison, social responsibility adviser at Eagle Mine, most of the Marquette County property is located near Sidnaw and Covington. Only about 40 of the 15,300 acres are in Marquette County while about 8,200 acres are in Baraga County. Another 3,450 acres are in Houghton County plus 3,300 acres are in Iron County.

In addition, some of the acreage is sited within the Ottawa National Forest and is owned by the U.S. Forest Service.

“Leasing these parcels allows us to consider expanding exploration activities beyond the existing Eagle Mine footprint,” Morrison said for a recent Mining Journal story on the matter. “This is the first step of many, even though there are no definitive plans to begin an exploration program. Our goal is to obtain the leases and consider future options in the U.P.”

At first glance, this entire proposition would seem like a garden variety exploration, at least potentially. Once Lundin Mining, which owns Eagle, obtains leases, it can start determining if any of the acres are worth investigating. If any are, an exhaustive review and permitting process would follow.

But because at least some of the property — specifically the Marquette County acreage –has been determined to contain endangered or threatened species habitat, things in all likelihood could get complicated. That’s just a part of doing business in the modern world and certainly Lundin knows that.

Want to weigh in? The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is accepting comments on the request until Aug. 26. Comments may be mailed to DNR, Office of Minerals Management, P.O. Box 30452, Lansing, MI 48909, or emailed to DNR-Minerals@michigan.gov.

We urge readers to participate.

–Marquette Mining Journal

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