Rio Tinto signs agreement with Michigan nonprofit to monitor U.P. mine

Rebecca Williams — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 13:00:00 +0000

The Eagle Mine near Marquette is under construction. It will be mining mostly nickel and copper along with smaller amounts of other metals.

The company Rio Tinto owns the mine. They’ve received their state and federal permits, but those permits are being challenged in court. The mine has been divisive in the community. A lot of people want the mining jobs, and many others are worried about the impacts the mine could have on Lake Superior and nearby rivers.

Dan Blondeau is a spokesperson for Rio Tinto. He says the company will be spending about a million dollars on environmental monitoring that’s required by their permits. But he says residents have been telling them that wasn’t enough.

“For the last several years, community members have told us they’d have more trust in environmental monitoring if it was done independently.”

Eagle mine

Rio Tinto signs agreement with Michigan nonprofit to monitor U.P. mine