Menominee Tribe Files Motion To Stop Proposed Mine

Wisconsin’s Menominee Tribe has filed a case in Michigan to stop a proposed mine on what used to be its ancestral lands.

Late last month, the tribe filed a contested case that will eventually be heard by an administrative law judge in Michigan.

Aquila Resources wants to mine for gold, and possibly zinc or copper at a site near Stephenson, Michigan, just across the Menominee River border from Wisconsin.

But Tribal Chair Gary Besaw said there are culturally significant burial mounds on or near the mine site.

“Until it can be done in a process that does not put the environment at risk that it does,” Besaw said. “We also ask that they not destroy those burial mounds and those ancestral areas.”

The mining permit has been approved by Michigan, but air and water quality permits are yet to be done.

The Menominee are native to Wisconsin and ceded the Upper Peninsula land in 1836. Besides the mounds and burial sites, Besaw said the area around the proposed mine include miles of raised garden beds.

Besaw said that proves native people were much more sophisticated than many people may believe, “we have proof here, and it’s one of the very few surviving places at this latitude that we have proof that thousands of years ago Indian people, native people, had raised garden beds.”

An official with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality said cultural concerns were taken into consideration during the mine application process.

The initial mine permit was granted by Michigan’s Department of Environmental Quality. Division Director Hal Fitch said state archeologists looked at the site.

“I think there are some mound sites and maybe some burial sites and so forth. So the pertinent features there were outside of the area proposed for the mine,” Fitch said.

Fitch said several more permits must be issued before the mine could start operation. There’s no schedule as to when the Menominee’s contested case will be heard.

In a written statement a Aquila Resources spokeswoman Robin Quigley said the company, “looks forward to addressing any concerns of the tribe through participation in the administrative process.”

The statement continued that Aquila, “remains confident that the permit will remain in good standing.”

There is no timeline as to when the Menominee’s contested case will be heard.