UP NORTH JOBS

08/27/2026

A TALE OF TWO GREAT LAKES STATES AND TWO VERY DIFFERENT REALITIES

From Minnesota’s Iron Range to Michigan’s U.P. Range, two neighboring Great Lakes states are creating two entirely different realities for responsible copper mining.

Last week, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz signed an executive order halting environmental review and permitting for nonferrous mining projects in the Rainy River Headwaters Watershed. The order attempts to directly hinder multiple projects and prevents regulators from determining whether they can meet Minnesota’s rigorous environmental standards.

Twin Metals Minnesota is proposing a $1.7 billion underground copper, nickel, cobalt and platinum group metals mine near Ely and Babbitt. It could create more than 750 direct jobs, 1,500 additional regional jobs and several million union construction hours.

The project proposes a surface footprint up to 85 percent smaller than a comparable open pit mine and dry stack tailings technology that eliminates the need for a conventional tailings dam. These plans should be evaluated by scientists and regulators—not rejected politically before environmental review can occur.

Meanwhile, one week later, Michigan approved $50 million through the Michigan Strategic Fund to advance Highland Copper’s fully permitted Copperwood Project in the Western U.P. Range.

The $425 million project is expected to create 380 jobs paying between $80,000 and $120,000 annually and generate $121 million in state and local tax revenue. Combined with up to $250 million in potential financing from the U.S. Export Import Bank, this support moves Copperwood closer to construction.

Michigan allowed Copperwood to undergo rigorous environmental review, secure its permits and earn the opportunity to advance. Minnesota is denying Twin Metals even the chance to do the same.

Two Great Lakes states. Two historic mining regions. Two proposed copper mines. Two entirely different realities.

Michigan is investing in its U.P. Range, family supporting jobs and America’s copper supply chain.

Minnesota is placing political roadblocks in front of its Iron Range and replacing scientific review with predetermined rejection.

Congratulations to Highland Copper and the Western Upper Peninsula on this major step forward.

Minnesota’s Iron Range deserves the same opportunity.

08/26/2026

Minnesota has a mineral policy. It’s right in state law.

Minnesota Statute 93.001 establishes a clear state policy: to support the long-term exploration, evaluation, environmental research, development, production, and commercialization of the state’s mineral resources.

That means responsible mineral development isn’t at odds with protecting Minnesota’s future. It’s part of the state’s longstanding policy - one that recognizes the importance of both mineral development and environmental research.

Good policy means doing both: developing the minerals we need while continuing to evaluate and protect the resources we value.

Read Minnesota Statute 93.001: Policy for Mineral Development
https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/93.001

08/21/2026

Twin Metals represents a real opportunity for the Iron Range and Northeast Minnesota.

The project sits on one of the largest undeveloped copper nickel resources in the world — minerals America needs for our renewables, the electric grid, manufacturing, national defense and everyday technologies.

Twin Metals Minnesota LLC has already invested over $650 million into understanding the resource and developing a project that can go through environmental review. If built, it could create hundreds of family sustaining union jobs, support more than 2,200 direct and indirect jobs jobs and generate significant tax and royalty revenue for Minnesota.

For Twin Metals Vice President Dean DeBeltz, this is personal.

Dean grew up in Ely, lives there today and has deep roots in the Iron Range.

Unlike many of the voices opposing the project from outside the region, Dean and his family will live with the outcome. He knows what makes this area special, but he also knows how important it is to give young people a reason to stay.

The Iron Range has the workforce, the experience and the resources. Twin Metals is an opportunity to put all three to work while producing more of the minerals America needs right here at home.

Mining and tourism have been part of Northeast Minnesota for generations. There’s no reason they can’t both be part of its future.

To read more of Dean's thoughts, please visit the link below:
https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/twin-metals-mining-ban-minnesota-copper-nickel-why/

08/21/2026

08/21/2026

https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/twin-metals-mining-ban-minnesota-copper-nickel-why/?fbclid=IwY2xjawT1S9NwZG9mAWV4dG4DYWVtAjExAGJyaWQRMXdaZHJwWGhtejNxM3ppeW5zcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEezJad-t7QT5fBrDT-bPzKV5XoAkg-I_SKrqAOFqpgG0WN21wGCYIhMIiy44w_aem_Q4IPZIYRFmuBxBnIxEvS4g

Twin Metals says a copper-nickel mine near the Boundary Waters would bring hundreds of union jobs and 1,400 additional positions. Still, opponents say the environmental risks to the watershed are not worth the trade-offs.

08/19/2026

Jobs for Minnesotans vehemently opposes Governor Walz’s executive order to pause leasing and permitting in the Rainy River watershed.

After years of review, the Minnesota DNR concluded that the state’s mining rules are adequate to protect the environment. Now, progress is being paused anyway—putting billions in investment and thousands of good-paying jobs at risk. Minnesota should be a place where responsible businesses get a fair chance to invest, create jobs and grow—not a place where opportunity is shut down by wayward executive action. See our statement here: https://jobsforminnesotans.org/bulletins/august-executive-order/

08/18/2026

Governor Walz said Minnesota would “Follow the Process.” Today, he abandoned it.

Better In Our Back Yard is appalled by Governor Tim Walz’s executive order effectively blocking copper, nickel and other nonferrous mining across approximately 225,000 acres of northeastern Minnesota.

This isn't simply a decision to deny a mining permit. The order directs state agencies to stop issuing permits and leases in the Rainy River headwaters and, even more concerning, halts new environmental review of nonferrous mining proposals within the affected area.

That stands in stark contrast to what Governor Walz told Dan Wolfe of KBJR 6 in August 2022:

“We would follow the process, we would follow the process as it goes. To find out if it's feasible, doesn't mean that it is, but we would follow the process to say that if it meets the environmental impact statement, if it meets the regulations that are written both federal and state law.”

What changed?

Just months ago, Governor Walz's own Department of Natural Resources completed a six-year review examining whether Minnesota's nonferrous mining rules adequately protect the Boundary Waters and its watershed. After considering more than 4,000 public comments, the DNR concluded in April that the state's existing rules are sufficient to protect those waters.

The state followed the process, considered the science and reached a conclusion. Now the Governor is using executive action to prevent individual projects from going through that very process.

Following the process never guaranteed Twin Metals—or any other project—a permit. It simply meant allowing scientists, engineers and regulators to determine whether a proposed mine could meet Minnesota's rigorous environmental standards.

The consequences for northeastern Minnesota are significant.

Twin Metals' proposed copper-nickel-cobalt mine near Ely represents more than $2 billion in potential private investment, an estimated 750 direct jobs and 1,500 additional indirect and induced jobs, plus significant opportunities for good-paying union construction jobs across the Iron Range and Minnesota.

There is also a fundamental contradiction between this order and the energy policies Governor Walz has championed.

Governor Walz wants Minnesota to transition toward renewable and carbon-free electricity. Yet the transmission lines, wind turbines, solar facilities, battery storage and other infrastructure needed to accomplish that require tremendous quantities of minerals, particularly copper.

If Minnesota is going to demand more copper to build the technologies of tomorrow, Minnesota union miners should have the opportunity to responsibly produce that copper here at home.

“Minnesota's population has grown by more than 25% over the last 40 years, while many Iron Range communities have experienced population declines of 10%, 20% or more. Decisions like this help explain why. When billions in private investment and thousands of potential jobs are taken off the table before a project can even demonstrate it meets our environmental standards, we're telling another generation of Iron Rangers they may need to leave home to find opportunity.”

— Ryan Sistad, Executive Director, Better In Our Back Yard

Responsible development and environmental protection are not mutually exclusive. Minnesota has spent decades developing rigorous environmental laws and a regulatory process designed to determine whether projects can be built responsibly.

Respect the science. Respect the regulatory process. Let projects be judged on their merits.

Governor Walz had it right in 2022:

Follow the process.

08/18/2026

From mine to line, minerals are behind each and every catch!

07/29/2026

Moving forward. Thank you!