Twin Metals

The action comes weeks after executive action by Gov. Tim Walz halted the mining company's efforts to establish a copper-nickel mine in the Rainy River Headwaters Watershed.

Stauber, state officials and local mayors voiced their opposition at a press conference Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026.

Walz is instructing the DNR not to grant permits. This move bears a strong risk of litigation over Twin Metals, which wants to extract copper, nickel, cobalt and other valuable metals from underground veins.

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.

Conservationists and wildlife enthusiasts are pleading with the public to demand that protections in the BWCAW concerning mining interests stay in place, with a key vote in Congress pending.

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.

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.

Stauber-sponsored provisions were scrapped on concerns they would not pass muster under Senate parliamentary rules.

Legislation would end mining moratorium on Superior National Forest and reinstate canceled Twin Metals leases.