In the developing PolyMet EIS documents, there is a detailed description of the planned project, including maps and other figures depicting the mine, processing plant and surrounding area.

Below is a map of the proposed Polymet mine.  Note the close proximity of the open mine pits (red "mine") to the Partridge River - a serious pollution concern, especially for the community of Hoyt Lakes.  Also, from the processing plant area (red "tailings"), any discharge to surface water or groundwater would flow down-gradient northward toward the Embarrass River.  These rivers flow into the St. Loius river and Lake Superior.

MAP Key:

Yellow (shaded) sections contain water wells that could be impacted by groundwater migration from the processing operations and permanent tailings storage.  The heavy blue lines (bold) show the major rivers.  The Partridge River surrounding the proposed PolyMet open pit mine, flows into Colby Lake, the source for City of Hoyt Lakes drinking water.  Then, it and the Embarrass River join the St. Louis River, and run south, along the Fond du Lac reservation and into Lake Superior.  

The green-and-red area marked "4292" signifies the 6,700 acres that would be transferred from the public to Polymet for their open-pit copper mine. The company has attempted bypassing the normal land-exchange of equivalent replacement wetlands and forests, through a 2008 Oberstar/Klobuchar bill known first as HF 4292, the "Superior National Forest Land Adjustment Act".

SCALE: Squares = 1 mile

The mine plan is still in the environmental review and permitting process.  The Minnesota DNR and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the state and federal agencies, pushed out for public comment an inadequate Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that received a rating of EU-I -- its most negaitve rating of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  This rating has only been given to 41 of the 11,834 EIS'  that the EPA has reviewed since 1987 (0.3 percent).

The lead agencies plus other cooperating state, federal and tribal agencies are still involved in developing a revised draft or supplemental EIS that will receive another public comment period.   It is important to act now to protect the area's lakes, rivers, streams and groundwater, before the permitting process moves forward. 

Become a member of WaterLegacy -- citizen advocacy and empowerment.