Two American Indian tribes bought the proposed Crandon mine property and mineral rights Tuesday and announced they will withdraw the previous owner's applications to mine the site.
The northeastern Wisconsin site has passed from owner to owner since the 1970s, when Exxon Corp. first announced the discovery of zinc and copper there. The last owner, Northern Wisconsin Resources Group LLC, sold the site and mining rights to the Forest County Potawatomi and the Mole Lake Band of the Sokaogon Chippewa.
The two tribes will divide 5,770 acres in Forest County and 169 acres in Shawano and Oconto Counties included in the purchase. The land encompasses areas of cultural and religious significance to the Sokaogon.
An NWRG release cited frustration with the costs and red tape of the mining review process and the \overall hostile political environment for metallic mining in the Badger State"" as the main reasons for selling the site.
Supporters hailed the sale as an environmental victory, but NWRG said it would cost the area hundreds of high-paying jobs.
Potawatomi spokesperson Bill McClenahan countered that tourism is a more important economic driver in northern Wisconsin than mining.
Although many look on this sale as the final chapter in the proposed mine's history, McClenahan said it does not mean there will never be a mine at the Crandon site.
""I don't think it's possible to say that, because no one knows if technology might be available at some point that would allow mining in an environmentally safe manner,"" he said.
He said the proposals put forth by NWRG were not environmentally sound.
Yet UW-Madison civil and environmental engineering Professor Anders Andren, the chair of a group appointed by former Gov. Tommy Thompson to study the proposed mine's environmental impacts, said NWRG corrected many problems in its project design based on the committee's work. However, the group still had questions about several aspects, such as how the mine would affect the groundwater table.
The group has still not released its report on the mine since Gov. Jim Doyle ended its state sponsorship earlier this year. Andren said he did not know if the group would ever release the report now that the mine will apparently not be built.
