Governor Walz recently announced that he wants hundreds of thousands of electric vehicles on Minnesota roads by 2030, but a world-wide shortage of nickel threatens to slam the brakes on EV's....
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Elizabeth Warren visited Minnesota last week to hold a campaign rally in her bid to become the Democratic Party's presidential nominee. At the rally, Warren waded into two highly controversial environmental debates in Minnesota by opposing the replacement of the Line 3 oil pipeline, and voicing her opposition to the proposed Twin Metals Minnesota mine, which would develop the massive reserves of copper, nickel, and other metals like platinum, palladium, and cobalt in northern Minnesota. Unfortunately, the policies proposed by Senator Warren represent a continuation of her campaign against reality. Line 3 Minnesotans use a lot of oil. In fact, U.S. Energy Information...
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Last weekend the Duluth News Tribune ran an editorial from Dean DeBeltz of Twin Metals which argued that anti-mining groups who say Twin Metals cannot operate responsibly are basing these claims on speculation and not science. He could not be more correct. Twin Metals has yet to submit a mining plan, which means anyone who opposes the mine now is not objecting to any potential technical shortcoming in the design of the project, but rather they are opposed to mining in general, and are projecting this opposition onto the Twin Metals project. Unfortunately, this is par for the course. Anti-mining groups like Friends...
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It never ceases to amaze me how special interest groups who push for more renewable energy also oppose mining for copper, nickel, and cobalt in Minnesota. These sources of energy require enormous amounts of materials, but where will they come from if not Minnesota? Countries with few, if any, protections for the environment or miners. Some "environmental justice," eh? The following article originally appeared in Reuters: WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Tesla Inc expects global shortages of nickel, copper and other electric-vehicle battery minerals down the road due to underinvestment in the mining sector, the company’s global supply manager for battery metals told an industry conference...
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According to the United States Geological Survey, Minnesota mined $4.05 billion in non-fuel minerals in 2018, making it the fifth-largest state for mining, in terms of the value of minerals sold (excluding coal, oil, natural gas, and uranium). This is after Minnesota was in sixth place last year. Few people in the Twin Cities metro realize just how important mining is to Minnesota's economy, and to the nation's security. In 2018, mines in Minnesota and Michigan shipped 98% of the usable iron ore products in the United States with an estimated value of $4.1 billion. Minnesota has traditionally accounted for approximately...
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Governor Walz has made expanding electric vehicle (EV) usage in Minnesota a high priority for his administration. In February, the Department of Transportation announced that transit officials want 20 percent of all cars, SUV's, and light-duty trucks to be electric by 2030, an increase of nearly 194,000 new electric vehicles on the road. We all know that EV's have serious shortcomings in the cold, losing up to 40 percent of their power output when it is 20 degrees above zero, but what will Walz's push for EVs do to the environment? It's a question that is worth examining, because despite the clean...
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Minnesota is home to the world's largest undeveloped deposits of copper, nickel, and platinum group elements, and developing these mineral resources will be a massive boost to the economy of our state. While the PolyMet mine has received the necessary permits from the state, the proposed Twin Metals mine has been the ire of urban liberals and environmentalists who do not want to see the mine developed. Fortunately, according to an article in MinnPost, the Trump administration has other ideas and has taken several concrete steps to support the project. The Obama administration blocked new mineral leases for Twin Metals in 2016,...
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Of $31 million distributed from the Permanent School Fund in 2017, 52% went to metropolitan area school districts. The vast majority of these funds were generated from mining. This begs the question, why should Twin Cities liberals get to benefit from an industry they don't support?...
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What did the President say at the mining and trade roundtable in Duluth yesterday? Click here to find out....
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The Star Tribune reports the U.S. Department of the Interior reinstated the Twin Metals Minnesota mineral leases from 2004 and its application for new leases. The measures reverse last-minute regulations imposed by the Obama administration after President Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election....
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