EVENTS
Wednesday, July 8th, 2026, 10am CT
Zoom Community Meeting
The Dangers of Sulfide Mining
by Tom Anderson
Courtesy of the Wild Flower Group
This community Zoom call will feature Tom Anderson, MSEE, volunteer and chief scientist with Tamarack Water Alliance, speaking on the dangers of sulfide mining. Many metals of economic interest (such as nickel, copper, gold and cobalt) are found in high sulfide ores. The metals in these ores are bonded to sulfur, forming sulfide minerals. The amount of sulfur in these ores can be 5-10 times higher than any specific metal of interest. In the case of the proposed Tamarack/Talon/Rio Tinto underground mine in Minnesota, nickel comprises only 1.73% of the ore on average based on the latest Talon publications. Other high sulfide nickel and copper mine proposals in Minnesota claim mineral content even lower, often less than 1%. As such, high sulfide mining creates a very large amount of waste sulfur which is often discarded into the environment with many toxic effects.
Tom Anderson has Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Minnesota and is a resident of Tamarack, Minnesota as well as a founding member of the Tamarack Water Alliance. He is recently retired as principal technologist for the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions, or ATIS ( atis.org ), a Washington, D.C., nonprofit that assists telecommunications service providers and vendors with information and communications technology and standards. He also teaches a variety of courses in the UMD Seniors program.
Register for the meeting to receive the Zoom link at https://tamarackwateralliance.org/php/eventreg.php?eid=16 or Contact Us.