Gogebic Taconite, the company interested in building an open-pit iron ore mine in Northwestern Wisconsin's Penokee Range near Lake Superior, is expected to file for an exploratory permit soon.
GTAC has already met with the Department of Natural Resources about borehole exploration of the Penokee Range. Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Materials Management Director Ann Coakley said they met two weeks ago.
"They don't necessarily have to do exploration or bulk sampling and they've indicated that they will do both," Coakley said. "So we expect to get an exploration license application from GTAC sometime yet this spring."
Much already is known about the Penokee iron-ore deposit from exploration done by U.S. Steel half a century ago. While that information remains proprietary, Wisconsin U.S. Geological Survey Assistant Director Tom Evans said GTAC has those records. But he said they will need to drill to find out more, a "fill-in-the-gaps" kind of thing.
"There's not enough information available now to support those kind of detailed applications and support the kind of mine plans and waste-management plans and groundwater monitoring plans that would be needed to support a modern mine permit application," Evans said.
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Coakley said once GTAC applies for an exploration permit, it has 10 days to make a decision. But nature will have something to say about that, she said.
"We really will need to do a field visit, and right now there's too much snow up there," Coakley said. "So we would probably need to have some delay in agreement that we would do our field inspection of the bore-hole sites once the snow has melted, and they seem agreeable to that."
If the exploratory license is approved, GTAC would have to post a reclamation bond of anywhere from $2,000 to $20,000.
Though GTAC doesn't own the rights to the minerals in the Penokee Range, it does own the option for the mineral rights.
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