Talon Tamarack Potential Impact on the St. Louis Bay Estuary

The Minnesota DNR is seeking public comments on the scoping documents for an EIS for the Tamarack Talon Metals Mining Project near Tamarack, Minnesota. The Scoping EAW (SEAW) identifies the Project's potentially significant impacts that warrant detailed analysis for public consideration.

Download the Project Scoping Document

In this scoping document, the DNR, (in Section 2.4.2. Transportation Technologies on page 4,) proposes to analyze the option of transporting ore and/or waste rock by rail from Tamarack, MN to a port on Lake Superior, then transport it by ship to Marquette County, Michigan. Practically speaking, this means shipping high sulfide ore/rock out of the Duluth-Superior harbor, on the edge of the St. Louis Bay Estuary.

Talon metals plans to extract about 1.2 million tons of ore and waste rock annually to be transported out of state, potentially via shipping docks in the Duluth-Superior harbor. This is approximately 3400 tons of material per day. Given that a typical Lake Superior ore boat can carry 50-78,000 tons of material, and given that lake shipping is often closed for at least 10 weeks in the late winter, a dock side storage facility is needed that can handle about 250,000 tons of high sulfide ore. This high sulfide ore can easily contaminate surrounding areas. See tamarackwateralliance.org/dangers.html for more information on the dangers of sulfide mining.

The location of this high sulfide ore/rock storage area near the St. Louis Bay Estuary, a superfund site that is in the late stages of restoration, presents serious concerns of added contamination to the estuary. Indeed, the scoping document description of this alternative does not even include information about the shipping facilities and storage areas that may be needed. This high impact alternative warrants a full EIS and based on Minnesota rules, this EIS analysis must be part of the Tamarack Mining project EIS.

We also note that based on current rail transport costs, it is likely that this shipping alternative is the lowest cost alternative for Talon. Thus, it is essential that the MN DNR receives feedback relative to concerns regarding impact on the Estuary and surrounding areas.

Please consider submitting comments to the DNR relative to this alternative at:
Submit a Comment on the DNR Website

Other resources that may be useful include:

Visit the Main DNR Talon EIS Site

Download the Project Scoping EAW Document

Abreviated List of Concerns

There are no accurate and vetted estimates for the amount of contact water that will be pumped from the mine. Estimates from Talon Metals have been as high as 2.3 million gallons per day but it could be much higher.
Impacts of contact water pumping from the mine on aquifers, surface and wetland water levels, and residential well levels in the area are unknown and must be studied.
Long term impacts (e.g. after mine closure) of contaminated mine water migrating into aquifers, from the disturbed underground mining activity are unknown.
Impacts of water discharge on the surface given that cold winter conditions will freeze the low flow downstream water-ways used for discharge causing local flooding into the area,
Impacts on wild rice from the release of sulfates (both airborne and from water).
Impacts of methylmercury contamination on fish creating fish consumption limits and compromising human health as well as the health of animals that consume fish.
Impact of vented dust and gases on the environment (only filtered to reduce particulate matter) must be evaluated and mitigated.
Impact of the lack of surface liners for ore and rock storage areas - a best practice for high sulfide mining operations - on long term soil contamination and migration into surrounding areas must be evaluated.
Impact on building foundations and structures due to underground blasting that may occur 2-3 times daily for well over 10 years.
Impact of rail transport dust leakage and mitigation when wet ore freezes in the train cars along the route to North Dakota or Michigan.
Impact on roads due to the transport of large amounts of gravel needed in mine operations to backfill mined out areas.
There is no plan for dealing with hazardous waste from the project.
The project will destroy many acres of wetlands.
Impact of “one time” environmental events such as floods and high winds on planned environmental mitigations need to be studied and evaluated.
Impacts on the St. Louis River Estuary if Talon decides to ship ore via boat from the Duluth-Superior harbor given that large high sulfide storage areas will be required near the docks.
Decrease of property values and the recreational economy in the area due to mine operations and associated pollution.
Impact of light pollution in an otherwise "dark sky" environment.

Other Resources

Visit the "Dangers of Sulfide Mining" page on our website. (tamarackwateralliance.org/dangers.html)

Visit the "Mine Concerns" page on our website. (tamarackwateralliance.org/mine.html)

Download the Latest Mine Concerns Presentation: tamarackwateralliance.org/docs/TamarackMineConcerns-Consolidated.pdf

Dangers of Sulfide Mining:

1 page PDF flyer (tamarackwateralliance.org/docs/SulfideMining.pdf)
Full Presentation (tamarackwateralliance.org/docs/TWA-Dangers-Sulfide-Mining-CC.pdf)

Download the 2 page summary handout: tamarackwateralliance.org/docs/Scoping.pdf