Post by
Dunite on Jan 30, 2014 9:27pm
Taconite........
The enviro boys have it quite wrong.....There has been sulphide mining already in the boundary waters area of Minnesota....Taconite is not as "clean" and sulphide free as they think. I went down 2000 feet into the belly of the old Soudan Taconite iron mine in the Virginia, Minnesota area this past September as part of the "Geo Tour" put on by one of the Duluth Geologist. This iron mine is loaded with Chalcopyrite---Copper Sulphide ore. So much so that Copper was a by product of production....along with a wee bit of gold.. Iron pyrite is ever present along with several iron sulphide forms that a lay person will not recognize. So all this waste rock is sitting on top of the ground supposedly leaching out sulphides into the environment, turning into sulfuric acid and killing every living thing.. Well the big lake nearby is quite healthy, loads of fish-trophy size. Rabbit and deer running amuck. The tree and Plant life is thriving and growing right on top of the tailings piles. But you will not hear a tree hugger ever mention this.....Dunite