GTAC Mine Site Remediation To Last Another Year

Mining company Gogebic Taconite is still working to close out the site where it had hoped to build a $1.5 billion iron mine in northern Wisconsin.

Over the winter, GTAC filled three exploration drill holes, but 17 still need to be sealed to close out the site. There are also 14 monitoring wells that need to be properly abandoned. Wisconsin DNR Hydrogeologist Larry Lynch said that means the company will be doing some of that work this summer, “with the understanding that they would likely need to come back again next winter, because portions of the site are really best accessed when it’s frozen.”

Lynch said a warmer winter prevented further work at the site.

“My understanding is they were starting to tear up the roads a bit,” he said. “They made the decision along with our field staff that it would be best to get off the site.”

The state won’t release a roughly $121,000 bond for the exploration holes until their work is complete.

GTAC closed its Hurley office last year. The company’s president said federal regulatory hurdles and the cost of disturbing wetlands were a barrier to building the mine. However, landowners are seeking other developers for the site

GTAC’s controversial mining proposal resulted in a rewrite of the state’s iron mining law. A majority of Conservation Congress members at spring hearings this month voted in support of repealing that law.

An engineer for the mining company didn’t return a request for comment.