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DNR doing its job with close monitoring of proposed mine project

Within a couple of weeks, Michigan Department of Natural Resources Director Keith Creagh could decide to approve a Canadian company’s bid to use more than 10,000 acres of state land for limestone and dolomite mining in the eastern Upper Peninsula.

We’re pleased to see that Creagh is taking his time to thoroughly consider the issue. The company has revised its proposal twice since initially offering it in fall 2013.

Graymont – which is headquartered outside Vancouver, B.C. and is the second-largest producer of lime in North America – is interested in acquiring limestone mining privileges on 10,357 acres of state forest land in Mackinac County for limestone mining operations.

Graymont first approached the DNR in April 2012 about the project. The company’s associated mineral exchange application was first submitted in June and was also revised in January.

The minerals application proposes to exchange more than 1,700 acres of state-owned minerals in the Hiawatha National Forest in Chippewa County for 1,700 acres of Graymont-owned minerals under state-owned lands in northern Mackinac County.

A royalty rate of 20 cents per ton is proposed through the end of 2037.

In mid-January, DNR division chiefs recommended approval of the mineral rights exchange,

Creagh’s decision on the mining company’s land transaction application is pending Graymont resolving seven “significant concerns” raised by DNR division chiefs over the past few weeks.

The concerns included royalty rate and minimum annual royalty payment; lack of consideration of timber and non-limestone and dolomite mineral value; final decision authority on land use and infrastructure including roads, trails, and mining structures on all parcels; inclusion of a particular land tract in the application; adequate wetlands protection and trail easement assurances in a particular parcel; failure to agree on a process for land exchanges and uncertainty involving the scope and timing of economic benefits to local communities.

We applaud the DNR and Creagh for understanding the weight of a proposal that seeks to use more than 10,000 acres of state land. Access is one major concern for the public, including Native American tribes.

The land application includes the sale and exchange of tracts totaling a value of $2.8 million. Graymont would pay Michigan 18.75 cents per ton for limestone and dolomite extracted from these land parcels. The money would go to the state Park Endowment Fund.

Graymont said public access would continue on purchased lands, except where active mining or processing was taking place. At the underground mining location, the DNR would continue to manage the surface land for recreational, environmental and economic values, including timber management.

Graymont could designate up to 360 surface acres of the underground mining parcel for “exclusive use” for mine portals, water holding basins, vent shafts and other infrastructure.

Creagh said local officials would like to see more economic benefit to local communities from the project and he thinks creating 40 or 50 local manufacturing or processing jobs with the project, rather than the 5 or 6 Graymont originally proposed, would better balance out the benefits ledger.

We agree and again we’re happy to see the DNR requiring Graymont to meet some important criteria before the proposal can be approved. Critics of new mining projects in the U.P. often accuse state agencies of rubber stamping projects or passing them through without proper scrutiny, seeing only the economic impact involved. It’s clear that hasn’t been the case with this Graymont project.

The DNR has worked to gain public involvement in the process and has required Graymont revisions.

We’re confident that if Creagh does approve the land transaction and minerals exchange this month, it will be because Graymont did its due diligence to meet those significant and appropriate concerns being raised by the DNR.

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