Minnesota DNR Approves Twin Metals BWCAW Drilling Plan

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) approved Franconia Minerals’ plan to explore metallic minerals near Birch Lake. The plan allows the company, a Twin Metals Minnesota subsidiary, to develop 19 drill sites on state and private land. This includes part of the shoreline and beneath the lake about 9 miles south of Ely. Birch Lake is part of the Rainy River watershed and drains northward into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW).

The drill pad sites would be located near the proposed Twin Metals copper-nickel mine site. It’s been a project that has been the subject of nearly a decade of public debate.

Environmental groups oppose the plan, arguing it will add pollutants to the lake, which the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has designated as impaired. Chris Knopf, executive director for Friends of the Boundary Waters, told the Minnesota Star Tribune that “despite clear legal authority to deny the permit and overwhelming opposition from Minnesotans, the Walz administration is holding the door open to this toxic industry.”

The proposal also enables Franconia to conduct down-hole geophysical surveys in the newly drilled borings. The DNR has approved the company’s plan to complete the work over the next two years.