Environmentalists active in Wisconsin

“It’s tough to do business down here,” says geologist Ted Dematties. “We always tell our clients that even if they do make a viable discovery, there is no guarantee they will ever get it to production.” Words of wisdom from a consultant whose employer, E.K.Lehmann and Associates, has been exploring the upper reaches of Wisconsin since the late ’60s. Although several recent developments – including tax changes and new leases on county land – suggest Wisconsin may be softening its anti-mining stance, stringent environmental regulations continue to exact a price.

Kennecott, which owns the Flambeau copper deposit in Rusk Cty., Wis., is the first to venture into the extensive mine permitting process required by Wisconsin law. After three years of public hearing and environmental reviews, the company has recently secured the necessary permits, but not without a struggle.

To cover the cost of reclaiming the open pit site, Kennecott is expected to post a bond of up to US$9 million. The proposed 19-month reclamation process would see the mine site restored to its original contours, all waste rock, soil and glacial overburden returned in their original sequence, and the entire site replanted with grass and trees. For this, the company will extract about two million tons of 10.5% copper ore over the mine’s 6-year life.

And the battle is not over yet. Although the State Department of Natural Resources has approved the operation, environmental activists are trying to get the project stopped. The greens are concerned about pollutants which could seep into the groundwater and the nearby Flambeau River. For them, the promise of at least 45 jobs places a distant second on the priority list.

“It won’t mean 5 cents to the people who are on welfare or who have lost their jobs,” says Roscoe Churchill, president of the Wisconsin Resource Protection Council. “Our real concern is the environment.”

Acquiring land is also difficult. Rather than stake claims, mining companies must lease land from the federal government, the state, or private individuals. It takes 6-8 months to secure a lease, and initial cash payments can be exorbitant if the lease happens to fall on prospective ground.

To add to its disadvantages, the state is covered in a thick layer of overburden – great for farming, but discouraging for mineral explorationists.

Yet despite the odds, the promise of new discoveries in northern Wisconsin is drawing some companies back to “America’s Dairyland.” Racing to probe the protected wetland areas before spring break-up, at least five companies are drilling along the 150-mile-long Rhinelander-Ladysmith belt, which hosts more than 12 massive sulphide occurrences.

Noranda (TSE), which has managed to secure an extensive land position along the belt over the past 19 years, is the most active in the area with several individual and joint venture projects on the go. The divisional office, which handles exploration for the eastern U.S., employs three geologists to cover exploration in Wisconsin alone. A separate office has been established to handle the Lynne project in Oneida Cty., where Noranda hit 128 ft. grading 22.71% zinc and 0.64% copper last spring.

With five rigs currently working at Lynne, Noranda expects to complete more than 100 holes on the project by the middle of March. While the company feels it has defined the strike extent of the zinc deposit along a 1,000-ft. length, the massive sulphide zone remains open at depth.

Acting on a letter of intent with WisCan Resources (TSE), Noranda is also drilling the Reef deposit, which contains a preliminary reserve of 454,688 tons grading 0.26 oz. gold per ton. When The Northern Miner visited Noranda’s regional exploration office in the third week of February, the partners had just completed their third stepout hole to test plunge extents at Reef. Sulphide stingers were visible in the first two holes, but assays are pending.

At the Bend prospect in Taylor Cty., E.K. Lehmann recently completed an 8-hole infill drilling program on behalf of Wisconsin Mineral Resources, a unit of Vancouver-based NDU Resources (VSE) and Chevron Resources. Preliminary reserves at Bend stand at 2.2 million tons grading 2.72% copper and 0.056 oz. gold in the hangingwall and 1.4 million tons grading 0.13 oz. gold and 0.27% copper in the footwall. Currently, drilling is on standby while the joint venture compile maps and mine plans for federal and stat e permitting.

E.K. Lehmann is also acting as operator for BHP-Utah Mines on a massive sulphide occurrence not far from the Lynne deposit. Lehmann has drilled five holes on the prospect, but assays are outstanding.

Twenty miles east of the Lynne project, Placer Dome (TSE) is probing geophysical anomalies on a property held by Pelangio-Larder Mines (COATS) and Quote Resources (VSE). To earn a 70% interest in the properties, Placer has agreed to spend $500,000. Although assays are not yet available, company officials say the first three holes on the property do not appear to contain any significant mineralization.

A joint venture is also in the works between Noranda and Placer Dome for a base metal prospect in Enterprise Twp. Details of the joint venture will not be released until the deal has been finalized, said Glen Adams, acting manager for Noranda’s eastern U.S. division.