DNR to conduct supplemental review of proposed NewRange mine changes

HOYT LAKES — Minnesota regulators will not conduct an entirely new environmental review as it considers changes to a proposed copper-nickel mine; instead, it will prepare a supplement to the project's decade-old environmental impact statement. Several environmental groups and the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa have appealed the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources' decision, arguing the design changes proposed by NewRange Copper-Nickel are significant enough that the agency must prepare a new environmental impact statement. "The project has changed, and it really needs to be a rigorous EIS that looks at this new project under current circumstances," said Paula Maccabee, executive director and counsel for WaterLegacy, one of the groups that have asked the Minnesota Court of Appeals to review the DNR's decision. NewRange is planning to build an open-pit copper-nickel mine, processing plant and tailings storage facility at the former Erie Mining Co./LTV Steel Corp.

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