Canadian Mining Journal ranks the Twin Metals mine in top copper mining projects for 2022

Anti-mining groups in Minnesota like to pretend that our state’s deposits of copper, nickel, cobalt, platinum, and palladium are globally insignificant, so they can argue that we don’t need to mine here. A recent Top Ten list from the Canadian Mining Journal begs to disagree.

The Mining Journal writes:

Copper, often called the bellwether metal as a barometer of global economic health, is a metal vital to the green energy transition. Demand has been growing for the red metal, and energy and metals researcher Wood Mackenzie expects end-use copper demand from passenger EVs to jump to around 2.9 million tonnes over the next decade from about 600,000 tonnes in 2021.

For a snapshot of the copper supply chain of tomorrow, MINING.COM and sister company Miningintelligence compiled a list of the top 10 largest undeveloped copper projects and ranked them according to copper resources in the measured and indicated and inferred categories.

Based on our criteria, we excluded Udokan Copper’s Udokan in Russia, Zijing’s Timok in Serbia and Anglo American’s Quellaveco in Peru, which have moved into the construction and commissioning phases.

The Twin Metals project ranks number 9 on the list of the top 10 largest undeveloped copper projects:

Angofagasta’s beleaguered Twin metals project in Minnesota rounds out the top ten with 12.96 mt of copper. The company has asked US officials to reconsider a proposed 20-year ban on mining in Minnesota’s Boundary Waters region, a plan announced last fall that would block Twin Metals altogether.

While anti-mining groups argue that Minnesota’s copper and nickel resources are “barely a bug on the windshield of the global copper market,” they have no problem arguing for California mandates for electric vehicles in our state, even though Minnesota’s contribution to global greenhouse gases is much smaller than our potential contribution to worldwide copper and nickel supplies.

The critical distinction here is that 14,800 Minnesotans would benefit from mining in our state. At the same time, the California car mandates would force all Minnesotans to pay more to drive while delivering zero measurable environmental return on investment for the families and businesses who will pay more for their next vehicle.

If Minnesota wants to lead on environmental issues, it should show the world how to mine responsibly.