Mining

Discussions around Tamarack echo themes playing out for a Twin Metals’ copper-nickel proposal near the Boundary Waters, which in April cleared a key federal hurdle in the U.S. Senate.

The Senate's 50-49 vote on April 16, 2026, reverses a 20-year mining ban in the Superior National Forest in the Rainy River watershed, within which the BWCAW is located.

As the U.S. Senate prepares to vote on reversing a 2023 mining ban in the Superior National Forest, Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith spoke on the Senate floor April 14, 2026.

Flooding in June 2024 closed the underground mine to tours for nearly two years, following another two-year closure in 2022 for restoration.

A measure in the Minnesota Legislature would give recently laid-off miners on the Iron Range the same extra 26 weeks of benefits that miners laid off last year received.

The area is located in the Rainy River Watershed, next to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, and contains deposits of copper, nickel and cobalt.

Three warehouses in Hibbing store core from over 20,000 holes drilled throughout Minnesota, keeping a "natural record" of the state's geology — but the DNR is running out of room.

Over 250 people attended the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency's public meeting. Permits could be issued as soon as April, with the mine aiming to open in June.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency will host an informational open house for the mine's air, water and wetlands permits, one of the last regulatory steps for the company.

The Trump administration determined the Biden administration did not properly notify Congress when it implemented a 20-year mining ban in the Superior National Forest.