What are the economic implications of more mines in Upper Michigan?
By Jerry Hume
Wednesday, February 20, 2008 at 4:27 p.m.
Read more: Local
MENOMINEE COUNTY -- Aquila Resources in Menominee County is still exploring their sulfide ore body, but they already employ 12 people. In Marquette County, Jon Cherry with Kennecott Minerals says they plan on employing 120 workers for their Eagle Project mine.
"New mines that get developed in the U.P. would inject a lot of new cash into the local economy, which I think would be a great thing,” Cherry said. “New jobs would be created, new taxes would be created; all these things are missing from the economy right now."
Depending on the price of commodities, Kennecott estimates between $70 million and $300 million in tax revenues and royalties will go to the state, county, and local communities during the mine’s life. On top of that, construction of the mine would require another 200 workers to build the mine.
"Right now it's some of the slowest construction times we've had in the last several years,” said Tony Retaskie, the Executive Director of the U.P. Construction Council. “Many of our members are working out of the state of Michigan right now, so this mine would mean an opportunity and would mean some of our workers could come home and work right here in the U.P."
The problem, environmentalists say, is what happens to the U.P. after the mine, or mines, close.
"It's a pattern that we can look at--towns all over the U.P., they thrive for a few years and then they collapse," said Babette Welch with Save the Wild U.P.
Dick Huey with Save the Wild U.P. says these new mines aren't your parents' kind of mining. He says it’s short-term and won't provide the economic benefit like Cleveland-Cliffs iron ore operations.
"It's a boom and bust kind of economy,” Huey said, “and boy, when that kind of economy goes bust, it goes bust for a long time."
Kennecott is using its community advisory group and the Lake Superior Community Partnership (LSCP) to determine what might be done after their mine closes.
"It's a little different when we had the boom and bust in the iron ore industry that wasn't planned,” said LSCP CEO Amy Clickner. “We know from day one what their plans are and how we as a community need to react."
Still, Russ Magnaghi, a U.P. history professor at N.M.U., says mining is a short-term solution to the U.P.'s economic problems. He and environmental organizations say we should be investing in more sustainable industries.
"We should be using the environment to attract people, to develop tourism," Magnaghi said. "Today we're at a crossroads. You have tourism on one side, you have mining on the other side."
Read the first segment of this series
Read the second segment of this series
Watch more Digging In 
Links of interest:
Kennecott Eagle Project
Aquila Resources
Prime Meridian
Bitterroot Resources
Save the Wild U.P.
