The Biden administration said Wednesday it has canceled two mining leases that would allow a copper mine to be built near a pristine wilderness area in Minnesota.
The Home Office said it determined that leases held by Twin Metals Minnesota, a subsidiary of Chilean mining conglomerate Antofagasta, were improperly reinstated by the Trump administration in 2019.
President Obama had previously taken action to block the mining project and refused to renew the leases. But starting in the first weeks of the Trump presidency, the administration has worked at a high level to remove the barricades leading to the mine. The New York Times reported in 2019.
This move came after discussions between Antofagasta executives and senior management officials. Billionaire Andrónico Luksic, whose family controls Antofagasta, rented a $5.5 million home in Washington to former President Donald J. Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, and her husband, Jared Kushner, in the early Trump administration when the couple first moved. to Washington, DC
At the time, Mr. Luksic’s representatives described renting a house as a simple real estate transaction involving the newly arrived president’s family. Both Ms. Trump and Mr. Kushner also said they were following ethical guidance.
Antofagasta did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the final decision. Twin Metals said in a statement that it was disappointed with the Biden administration’s decision and will appeal it.
“We are committed to bringing much-needed economic growth to our region and the opportunity to responsibly develop critical minerals needed for our global efforts to combat the climate crisis,” the company said in a statement. Copper is widely used in the renewable energy industry for wiring, wiring and other applications.
Boundary Waters, a vast landscape of protected lakes and forests along the Canadian border, provides habitat for thousands of species, including the gray wolf and Canadian lynx. But mining companies have long shown interest in the area because an estimated four billion tons of copper and nickel ores lie beneath the surface. It thought to be one of the largest undeveloped mineral deposits in the world.
Home Secretary Deb Haaland said his department “takes seriously our obligations to protect public lands and waters on behalf of all Americans.” “We must be consistent in how we enforce the terms of the lease to ensure that no tenants get special treatment,” he added.
he said new legal opinion The Department of the Interior’s Attorney’s Office found “significant legal shortcomings” in the circumstances surrounding the 2019 renewal, including violations of departmental regulations and inadequate environmental analysis.
The proposed mine sparked a fierce backlash from local environmentalists, who said harmful metals and other pollutants could leach from the site. “Today is a big win for Border Waters protection,” said Becky Rom, National Head of the Border Waters Conservation Campaign. The leases “never should have been reinstated in the first place,” he added.