With Minnesota mining permit, PolyMet proposal reaches a turning point - Minneapolis Star Tribune

The finish line is in sight for the most divisive and controversial mining project Minnesota has ever seen: a state permit for PolyMet Mining's proposed copper-nickel operation on the Iron Range.

After more than a decade of regulatory review and contentious public meetings, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Friday posted its proposed permit to mine — 20,000 pages of documents that lay out the project, the conditions under which it will be built and then closed decades from now. The first copper-nickel mining permit in state history, it also shows how the project will fund what could be hundreds of years of water treatment to remove heavy metals and other contaminants after the mine closes.

Mining advocates see PolyMet's open pit project near Hoyt Lakes, and others that are expected to follow, as the long-awaited economic rejuvenation of a once thriving mining community in northeast Minnesota.