Proposed Minnesota nickel mine begins environmental review, would supply Tesla if approved
Talon Metals Corp. has filed papers with Minnesota regulators to launch the environmental review process for its proposed underground nickel mine that would supply nickel to Tesla for electric car batteries
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Talon Metals Corp. filed papers with Minnesota regulators Wednesday to launch the environmental review process for its proposed underground nickel mine near the northern town of Tamarack, which would supply nickel to Tesla for electric car batteries.
The Department of Energy has already given the project a $114 million grant to build an ore processing plant in North Dakota, part of the Biden administration’s efforts to boost domestic production of nickel, lithium and other metals needed for electric vehicles and the fight against climate change.
That funding contrasts with the administration's efforts to kill another proposed mining project in northern Minnesota, the Twin Metals copper-nickel mine near Ely, which is just upstream from the pristine Boundary Waters Canoe Area wilderness. And the federal government earlier this month raised a new obstacle to the separate NewRange Copper Nickel mine near Babbitt when the Army Corps of Engineers revoked a crucial water quality permit.
The Talon mine may have administration support, but it already faces opposition from the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe and environmental groups. They're concerned about the potential impacts on water resources and Native communities in the area, about 115 miles (185 kilometers) north of Minneapolis. Like the NewRange and Twin Metals ore deposits, the metals are bound up in sulfide minerals that can generate sulfuric acid when exposed to the environment.
