On mining precious metals: Northlanders know it’s about the jobs

This month, Minnesota’s State Executive Council—which includes the governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general and state auditor—voted to delay 77 leases to explore for copper and nickel on private lands in northern Minnesota.

This short-sighted action was initiated by Gov. Mark Dayton and Secretary of State Mark Ritchie. It was unfortunate for the job situation in the Northland, and I know many Minnesotans are terribly disappointed.

After all, the people of Minnesota own the rights to minerals in the state, including those under private land. Anyone from Northeastern Minnesota knows this; I remember learning this fact in elementary school.

Dayton and Ritchie said they were responding to the complaints of a handful of Isabella-area landowners who supposedly didn’t know about the state’s century-old mineral laws. Yet most of the people testifying against the leases actually live in the Twin Cities area or are only transplants to the Northland. I think most Northlanders would agree: It’s inconceivable that someone from the Twin Cities or elsewhere would buy property in Northeastern Minnesota without being astute enough to learn the laws relevant to that land. If they didn’t: well, tough.

Minnesota’s mining laws—established as they are—work for landowners and businesses alike. They have allowed landowners to maintain their properties while enabling businesses to explore the vast untapped resources buried deep beneath the surface. Those resources represent the future of Minnesota’s mining industry, including the potential for hundreds or even thousands of jobs and millions of tons of precious metals vital to the 21st-century economy.

Minnesota’s mining industry always has worked closely with landowners to assuage their fears and to ensure they are fully compensated for deposits found underneath their land.

Personally, I own properties near Babbitt and Embarrass. I would be thrilled to learn there were minerals under my land, knowing that my land would be contributing to our economy, to our state’s jobs outlook and, additionally, to the global environment. (In Minnesota, we mine far more safely and cleanly than foreign operations do. Thus, if we are truly to think globally, we should be acting locally by encouraging mining to be conducted here rather than in countries with lax environmental standards.) Moreover, I know it would likely be financially rewarding if any explorations went all the way to development on my property.

As Dayton said at this month’s meeting, the minerals aren’t going anywhere. And that’s exactly the problem. It’s a shame, because jobs could be created soon, if only approval were given to prospect. And, what happens after this six-month delay? More politically manufactured delays?

It should be noted that Lt. Gov. Yvonne Prettner Solon—a Duluthian—advocated for approving the leases, saying it was about jobs. Like most Northland residents, she understands. It is noteworthy, too, that State Auditor Rebecca Otto, from rural Marine on St. Croix, outside the metro beltway, also advocated aggressively for the leases.

In an act of utter inconsistency (some might say hypocrisy) Gov. Dayton attended a “jobs summit” in Duluth just two days after quashing well-paying jobs in the Arrowhead region. (The average annual salary of a Minnesota miner is about $70,000, with benefits fully loaded on—far more than could be made in tourism or other industries in the region.)

Indeed, Dayton’s actions this month were more consistent with his actions two decades ago. At that time, when he was on the State Executive Council as state auditor, he called for the postponement of mining lease votes so he could consult first with the Sierra Club.

This is a new day. It’s time to set aside allegiances to outside special interests and make the Arrowhead economy the first priority. The lieutenant governor is right: It’s about jobs.