RELEASE: Twin Metals submits plan for exploratory drilling to pursue mining underneath Birch Lake just south of the Boundary Waters

(Ely, MN) - Twin Metals Minnesota (Twin Metals) has submitted a proposal to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MN DNR) to pursue exploratory drilling on state and private land immediately adjacent to Birch Lake, one of the most popular recreational lakes outside of the Boundary Waters.

“This exploratory drilling proposal is a precursor to copper mining underneath Birch Lake, which flows directly into the Wilderness,” said Ingrid Lyons, Executive Director of Save the Boundary Waters. “This continuation of exploratory drilling serves as an important reminder: the threat posed by copper mining in this special place is far from gone, and the entire watershed of the Boundary Waters - particularly state land - needs permanent protection from copper mining, not just federal lands.”

Copper mining is currently banned on federal lands and minerals in the Rainy River Watershed as a result of a 2023 Public Land order, which protected over 225,000 acres of jointly-owned federal lands and minerals from copper mining for up to 20 years.

Twin Metals’ Birch Lake exploratory drilling can occur because there is currently no ban on copper mining on state and private lands in the watershed of the Boundary Waters, where this drilling takes place. Legislation (H.F 309 / S.F 875) has been introduced in the State Legislature that would protect the Boundary Waters watershed from such development on state land by prohibiting the issuance of leases or permits for copper mining. This bill would NOT prohibit or otherwise impact existing or future taconite, iron ore, sand, gravel, and granite mining.

In October 2023, Franconia - a wholly owned subsidiary of Twin Metals - submitted an exploratory drilling plan to the Minnesota DNR, which approved the plan. This plan was for January 2024 to March of 2025. Northeastern Minnesotans for Wilderness, the lead organization of Save the Boundary Waters, submitted a letter to the DNR arguing the exploratory plan should not be approved, which it was in November 2023.

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A 2017 report by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency describes the waters within the Rainy River Watershed area (where the Boundary Waters is located) as “exceptionally clean” and “immaculate” and concludes that "the majority of the waterbodies within this watershed had exceptional biological, chemical, and physical characteristics that are worthy of additional protection." The Boundary Waters is the nation’s premier lake land National Wilderness Area and the most visited of all such areas. A defining characteristic is water: 24% percent of the Boundary Waters is water, and along with the Superior National Forest, it contains 20% of all the freshwater in the entire National Forest System.