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H.R. 861: To terminate the Environmental Protection Agency
This bill — cosponsored by Republican members of Congress from fossil fuel-producing states — is just one sentence long, and says nothing about what would happen to the multiple environmental regulations the EPA has instituted since 1970, or its multibillion-dollar budget, or its thousands of staffers. H.R. 861 is currently awaiting action in the subcommittee on environment.
Finally it’s safe for the whistleblowers of corrupted climate science to speak out – by Lawrence Solomon (Financial Post – February 17, 2017)
February 17, 2017 in Canadian Media Resource Articles, Climate Change, Carbon Taxes and ENGOs
http://business.financialpost.com/
Whistleblowers at the U.S. government’s official keeper of the global warming stats, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), claim their agency doctored temperature data to hide the fact that global temperatures plateaued almost 20 years ago.
Can the whistleblowers be believed in this claim, originally made in 2015? And in the further claim that NOAA then rushed this doctored data into print in time for the UN’s Paris global warming summit of world leaders, to dupe any doubters that the planet was in fact overheated?
Of course the whistleblowers can be believed, and not just because NOAA repeatedly stonewalled inquiries, even failing to comply with a congressional subpoena. No one paying attention can have any doubt that the governmental global warming enterprise has been a fraud. It’s been lies from the start, starting with the very mandate of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which astonishingly ruled out factors like the sun as being worthy of investigation.
YYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
Washington (CNN)The Senate confirmed Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency, an agency Republicans desperately want to rein in after what they charge was eight years of dangerous activism under the Obama administration that hurt businesses, jobs and the economy.
Trump's EPA pick took hands-off approach to environmental crisis that shook Oklahoma
Pruitt maybe just the person to do it. As Oklahoma attorney general he sued the agency many times in that pursuit and has vowed to curb the EPA's regulatory reach once in office.
The largely party line vote was 52-46.
Democratic senators Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who both represent energy producing states, voted for Pruitt. Moderate Republican Susan Collins of Maine voted against him.
"He's exceptionally qualified," said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. "He's dedicated to environmental protection. And, as someone with state government experience, he understands the real-world consequences of EPA actions and knows that balance is the key to making policies that are sustainable over the long-term."
(New York, NY) – President-elect Donald J. Trump today announced his intent to nominate Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to serve as the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, a cabinet-level position. An expert in Constitutional law and one of the country’s top attorneys general, Pruitt brings a deep understanding of the impact of regulations on both the environment and the economy making him an excellent choice to lead the Environmental Protection Agency.
“For too long, the Environmental Protection Agency has spent taxpayer dollars on an out-of-control anti-energy agenda that has destroyed millions of jobs, while also undermining our incredible farmers and many other businesses and industries at every turn. As my EPA Administrator, Scott Pruitt, the highly respected Attorney General from the state of Oklahoma, will reverse this trend and restore the EPA’s essential mission of keeping our air and our water clean and safe,” said President-elect Donald Trump. “My administration strongly believes in environmental protection, and Scott Pruitt will be a powerful advocate for that mission while promoting jobs, safety and opportunity."
“I am deeply grateful and honored to serve as President-elect Trump’s EPA Administrator,” said Mr. Pruitt. “The American people are tired of seeing billions of dollars drained from our economy due to unnecessary EPA regulations, and I intend to run this agency in a way that fosters both responsible protection of the environment and freedom for American businesses.”
Mr. Pruitt will be deeply involved in the implementation of President-elect Trump’s energy plan, which will move America toward energy independence, create millions of new jobs and protect clean air and water.
Mr. Pruitt will ensure that we conserve our natural habitats, reserves and resources, while unleashing an energy revolution that will bring vast new wealth to our country. Mr. Pruitt agrees with President-elect Trump that we must rescind all job-destroying executive actions and eliminate all barriers to responsible energy production. This will create at least a half million jobs each year and produce $30 billion in higher wages.
Mr. Pruitt has been a national leader against the EPA’s job-killing war on coal. As Oklahoma’s Attorney General, Pruitt established the state’s first “federalism unit” to combat unwarranted regulation and overreach by the federal government. Pruitt agrees with President-elect Trump that states should have the sovereignty to make many regulatory decisions for their own markets.
Here is something to actually talk about...
http://www.startribune.com/environmental-groups-drop-lawsuit-against-mpca-over-minntac-s-long-expired-water-permit/405345526/
stocks go up and down...manipulation talk is for simple minds...the reason this stock dropped to .75 ish land is because PLM did the last financial package at that price...simple
until we Land the ROD from the USFS we float in nowhere land, keep in mind that ALL the land that PLM is wanting from the USFS WAS ONCE MINING LAND that UU Steel owned until the 1930's and USS did not want to pay the taxes on it so it gave MINING LAND to the USFS. That was done with one piece of paper and about 30 days to transact
now it is like pulling teeth from a tiger at full stride to reverse the transaction...for mining land.
it has always been understood that the USFS has wanted this transaction to go through, as they do not want the land that PLM wants...they WANT the lands PLM has already bought and is exchanging...the nightmare is to document all of this transaction properly as to Not get sued by every environ-MENTAL group.
Go Trump/Pence
Nolan got more votes
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources header
November 9, 2016 - Exploration proposed on state nonferrous metallic minerals leases
AngloGold Ashanti Minnesota (Explorer) proposes to do exploration drilling on state-managed mineral rights in southeastern Koochiching County. It submitted an Exploration Plan to the DNR for review on November 2nd, 2016.
The Explorer plans to drill thirty-one (31) exploratory rotosonic borings within nineteen (19) active state nonferrous metallic minerals leases. Rotosonic drilling uses high frequency vibration of the drill bit to collect cores of unconsolidated glacial sediment and underlying bedrock. Each boring will end shortly after the top of bedrock is encountered. No drilling fluids are needed. It should take less than a few days to complete each boring. The borings are anticipated to be vertical holes approximately 150 feet in depth. The borings will be permanently sealed immediately after drilling in accordance with Minnesota Department of Health regulations. The Explorer will access the drill sites by paved public roads, existing unpaved frozen winter roads, and/or frozen winter use routes. This proposed work would commence upon DNR approval, and after sufficient frozen ground and snow cover have been established.
The proposed exploratory drilling program will not involve areas of private surface lands held by individuals. Pending DNR approval, the Explorer has the right to work on state-owned surface lands, which covers most of the work proposed. The Explorer has obtained authorization from the Koochiching County Land department for work on county-owned surface and Potlatch Holdings for work on their land.
A summary report and associated map of the proposed exploration activities is found at the DNR's exploration plan web page:
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/lands_minerals/metallic_nf/regulations.html
Read and understand these words from the news release
"The Offering is expected to close on or about October 18, 2016 and is subject to PolyMet receiving all necessary regulatory approvals"
.......we are going to have an answer soon!!!
http://www.startribune.com/twin-metals-sues-federal-government-over-right-to-mine-near-bwca/393129251/
Hope they win a massive amount of money along the way also
U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan Thurday reported a positive call with Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment Robert Bonnie after discussing the PolyMet land exchange, the Twin Metals leases, the Louisiana Pacific Siding Plant, and the need to act on advancing responsible allterrain vehicle (ATV) use on forest service roads.
“I am pleased Under Secretary Bonnie was able to take our views on these important issues under consideration during our call and I feel as though we got a good response, especially on the PolyMet Record of Decision timeline,” Nolan said. “I look forward to working with him as a key partner on so many issues important to northeastern Minnesota.”
Below is a readout of their conversation on a variety of important Superior National Forest (SNF) issues:
PolyMet land exchange:
The Forest Service, as a co-lead agency, continues its work on a final Record of Decision, which will be required for the proposed land exchange between PolyMet and the Superior National Forest. In the land exchange, the federal government will acquire other land that will be managed as a part of the Superior National Forest and maintain surface resources that can be managed for multiple resource values. Rep. Nolan urged Under Secretary Bonnie to expeditiously complete the objection response process, and move to finalize the Draft Record of Decision it released as soon as possible.
NI 43-101 Technical Report on the
NorthMet Deposit
During the first five years of full-scale production, cash costs of production (excluding amortization of
capital) on a co-product basis (allocating costs to each metal according to its contribution to revenue)
and using Base Case metal price assumptions are projected at $0.81/lb for copper, $2.84/lb for nickel,
and $113, $477, and $239 per ounce respectively for palladium, platinum, and gold.
Alternatively, using the by-product method whereby revenues from other metals are offset against
costs of a primary metal, the five-year average cash cost of copper would be $0.06/lb or, if NorthMet
were viewed as a nickel mine, nickel costs would be minus $1.46/lb.
PolyMet plans to complete a full update of both capital and operating costs when the detailed design
is finanalized as a result of the environmental review and permitting process.
In addition to reflecting the scope and cost of this design, the update will also reflect current metal
market conditions.
April 7, 2016 - Exploration proposed on state nonferrous metallic minerals leases
Kennecott Exploration Company (explorer) submitted an Exploration Plan on March 31, 2016 for exploration activity to be conducted on 40 state nonferrous metallic mineral leases in Aitkin and Carlton Counties near the city of Tamarack. The company proposes to conduct two ground-based geophysical surveys over its Tamarack Project. One is a gravity survey. This is a non-invasive measurement that uses a sensor the size of a large coffee pot. It is placed on the ground at 100 to 200 meter intervals for a few minutes to passively measure the earth's gravity field. The other is a magneto-telluric (MT) survey. The MT survey is also a non-invasive technique to measure changes in the earth's electrical and magnetic fields over time. Small recording units will be placed at stations approximately 400 meters apart (roughly one every 40 acres). No trees or brush will be removed for these surveys. The company will capture the locations of every geophysical station with a high accuracy GPS (Global Positioning System). The explorer has agreements or leases for the surface ownership on the parcels involved. Kennecott Exploration Company has been exploring for copper, nickel and platinum group elements in this area since the year 2000.
A summary report and associated maps of the proposed exploration activities is found at the DNR's exploration plan web page:
Exploration Plan Webpage
Dear Gov. Mark Dayton,
I write this letter with a very heavy heart. We have been friends for many years. Do you remember how many times you ran for an elected office and I was there to help you get elected every time?
I am shocked at your decision to shut down the Twin Metals project and not allow the process to work (“Dayton rebuffs proposal for mine,” March 8).
I also wonder if you have the authority to bypass the Minnesota Executive Council. If you do have that authority, at least have a vote of the council so we can see who supports us or who are the Twin Cities people who seem to hate the Iron Range. We want to get ready for the next election.
Governor, as I travel in our area, I can’t believe the solid Democrats who are saying they are voting Republican; will this be your legacy?
I also am told you are opposed to PolyMet and are using the smoke screen of financial assurance to be put in escrow. Why don’t you do the same for everyone who is polluting the water in southern Minnesota and the metro area?
Governor, I care deeply about the Iron Range. I was born here and lived here for my entire 86 years, except for the years I spent in the U.S. Army. Let me die as a proud Iron Range DFLer. Reverse your decision on Twin Metals.
Your friend (?),
Joe Begich, Eveleth, Minn.
MR Dayton,
You sir an an idiot. You will be sued by DM and Antofagosta and the tax payers of the state will probably pay the bill. There was no reason to write any stupid letter while the process of applying for the environmental review is under consideration. You have no say in the matter at this time, please resign effective immediately, you have used your office to make undue objections to satisfy the environmental community.
A very concerned citizen,
A federal judge has refused to block a lawsuit by an Alaskan mining company that claims the Obama administration was biased when it tried to block the firm’s efforts to build a huge gold and copper mine southwest of Anchorage.
U.S. District Judge H. Russel Holland allowed the suit by Pebble Limited Partnership to move forward after finding that the mining company had made a “plausible” case in arguing that anti-mine activists had unfairly influenced regulators in their decision to block the mine.
The decision, announced Thursday in Anchorage, opens the door for a protracted legal battle over the proposed Pebble Mine, which, if built, would put one of the world’s biggest open-pit gold mines on undeveloped land 150 miles upstream of Alaska’s Bristol Bay.
ADVERTISING
The Environmental Protection Agency is seeking to block the mine, citing risks to the region’s highly productive salmon fishery.
[Proposed gold mine is target of rare EPA “veto.”]
Pebble’s lawsuit accuses the EPA of violating the 1972 Federal Advisory Committee Act, or FACA, intended to prevent unfair outside influence in government decisions. Company officials argue that anti-mine groups were given improper access as regulators were deciding whether to take the unusual step of preemptively blocking the mine without allowing the normal permitting process to move forward.
“We are convinced the EPA has pursued a biased process against our project that then drove their actions toward a predetermined outcome,” Pebble CEO Tom Collier said in a statement responding to the judge’s decision. “Our fight with the EPA has been about a fair and transparent process for objectively evaluating a development plan for our project once we have presented it via the permitting process.”
Pebble officials are seeking access to underground deposits said to contain nearly 7 million pounds of gold, along with other valuable minerals. But local opponents and environmental groups say the mine would destroy spawning grounds for one of the world’s biggest runs of sockeye salmon.
The EPA’s handling of the case is the subject of at least one other lawsuit as well as an internal investigation by the EPA’s Inspector General.
NO, the Governor has not one place his signature is applied too...there are about 21-24 permits that need to be applied for...all from different agencies at the local, county, state and federal levels.
go to
http://gopolymet.com/safe-clean-water/
also you can look at the DNR website of Minnesota
the Governor is only playing politics by posturing.
We are looking at anytime after the 16th of FEB for the DNR release
Permits should have all the ink on them and ready to submit.
The Process is working so far.
Hoping this PPS can stay around here for another 10 days, ammo is a comin
FCX has bottomed and rebounded, we need the dollar to drop off all it's strength and retreat for commodities to fully rebound, FCX has a all in cost of $1.45 for copper,they have a few Indonesia problems, but will just take a bit of time to work out. PLM will have all in copper costs of $1.05, The banks are already in line to fund this project, especially because of mega Glencore. How could you not be a banker and look at the first 5 years of all product purchased, when the loan will be repaid in less than 2 years...ALL that interest pretty much a gift!!
Pina Coloda anyone!!
Map of Northeastern Minnesota's Deposits
take a close look at the other PGM deposits like Teck's location compared to our site, Northmet, also keep in mind the Wyman Creek deposit and the Wetlegs Deposit. The latter 2 deposits are a bit small for anyone to actually fire up a complete mine/crushers/etc so consider this a avenue down the road.
http://www.lvpmn.org/_site_components/documents/user/tools-resources59.pdf
And identify the Laurentian Divide, water just ain't gonna run North from this mine pit or the buildings...water does not run "up" hill.
Anyone remember Franconia, bought shares at @ .25, was bought out by Duluth Metals and Antofagosta for .78 cents. Antofagosta owns pretty much all of the deposits North of the TECK Cominico "Babbit" Deposit
Many of us have been around a long, long time understanding this deposit and the process, Environmental review is at an end for this specific "plan".....However, Polymet is not done with environmental review...In my humble opinion, they will be going back many times, though the "process" we just went through will not be as lengthy, with more plans and designs, whether it will be additional ore and crushers being fired up, or taking over these other deposits. There will be life long careers just dealing with environmental reviews.
Joy Global is aiming at making the iron range their new HQ. Minnesota is setting up for another 100 years of mining, and not just taconite, we are talking about Platinum, Palladium, Dr Copper, Nickel. Cobalt and Gold. The taxes paid to the school trust funds, local communities, the county and state will rival the well respected iron ore industry, and we all know we need a break in MN from the tax man.
This has been a very informative board, you all deserve a pat on the back for keeping it civil.
I wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year!
GoPolymet.com
Recommended reading material...
We Support Minnesota Mining Resource Listing
December 13, 2013 at 9:44am
We Support Minnesota Mining Resource Listing:
Polymet's Northmet Project:
NorthMet Mining Project and Land Exchange Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement November 2013
http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/input/environmentalreview/polymet/sdeis/full_sdeis.pdf
NorthMet Supplemental Draft
Environmental Impact Statement (SDEIS)
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/input/environmentalreview/polymet/index.html
ENVIRONMENTALLY RESPONSIBLE MINING with examples of environmentally responsible mines.
http://technology.infomine.com/enviromine/publicat/enviroresponse.html
http://www.pumpkinhollowcopper.com/project-overview/right-way/
http://www.flambeaumine.com/documents/news_releases/JUDGE%20FINDING%20News%20Release%20July%2025%202012.pdf
Reverse Osmosis / Water Quality:
Acid Rock Drainage
http://www.miningminnesota.com/WHATABOUTACIDROCKDRAINAGE.pdf
These reports relate to methyl mercury and sulfate cycling in NE Minnesota streams and in the St. Louis River estuary.
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/lands.../dnr_so4_research.html
http://www.rwlwater.com/what-is-reverse-osmosis/http://www.miningfacts.org/Environment/How-are-the-effects-of-mining-on-water-quality-monitored-/
http://www.wqa.org/sitelogic.cfm?ID=872
Case Study: On-Site Water Treatment Plant for Collahuasi Copper Mine in Chile
http://www.rwlwater.com/case-study-collahuasi-copper-mine/
Case Study: Dunka Mine Minnesota (Lessons Learned)
http://www.itrcweb.org/miningwaste-guidance/cs_dunka_mine.htm
Sulfate: Copper Education - Minnesota And Flambeau Comparisons, Ore Sulfide Bodies
https://www.facebook.com/notes/we-support-minnesota-mining/copper-education-minnesota-and-flambeau-comparisons-ore-sulfide-bodies/326713324131328
Water Resource Documents Regarding Sulfate And Water Quality In Three Minnesota Cities
https://www.facebook.com/notes/we-support-minnesota-mining/water-resource-documents-regarding-sulfate-and-water-quality-in-three-minnesota-/306176939518300
Truth on sulfate and wild rice - Facts/ Regulatory Environment Piece.
http://www.virginiamn.com/opinion/letters/truth-on-sulfate-and-wild-rice/article_de9ebad2-c549-11e4-8770-f7901cc34427.html
Some Current Minnesota Mining Projects:
http://www.polymetmining.com/development-environ-mining.php
http://www.twin-metals.com/
Copper Nickel Discussions
Copper and Nickel Mining in Minnesota (UMD)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQELZoL2yUo
Mining History:
http://miningartifacts.homestead.com/indexminnesotamininghistory.html
http://www.miningartifacts.org/Minnesota-MInes.html
Some vanished settlements of the Arrowhead country / Julius F. Wolff, Jr.
http://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/34/v34i05p177-184.pdf
17 Level (Pioneer Mine Operations)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taORtR8-5Ug&fb_source=message
Mining Tools And Resources:
Minnesota Minerals Coordinating Committee
http://mcc.mn.gov/index.html
Additional Information on Minerals and Mining in Minnesota
http://mcc.mn.gov/links.html
Laurentian Vision Partnership
http://www.lvpmn.org/tools-resources/
Range Readiness Initiative
http://www.rangereadiness.com/
State regulations and reclamation rules related to nonferrous metallic minerals exploration and development
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/lands_minerals/metallic_nf/regulations.html
Where tax revenues go:
http://www.revenue.state.mn.us/businesses/mineral/Documents/2011_mining_guide.pdf
http://www.revenue.state.mn.us/businesses/mineral/Documents/2013_mining_guide.pdf
Active Mines In Minnesota:
http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/lands_minerals/mpes_projects/mn_mines_color_webversion_2011_12.pdf
Economic Impact:
The Economic Impact of Ferrous and Non-Ferrous Mining on the State of Minnesota and the Arrowhead Region, including Douglas County, Wisconsin
https://lsbe.d.umn.edu/uploads/FINAL%20Mining%202012%20Report.pdf
Minnesota Department Of Employment And Economic Development
https://apps.deed.state.mn.us/lmi/oes/OccSelect.aspx
Informational Photos:
How mining taxes support your school. Source: Mining Tax Guide
https://www.facebook.com/wesupportmining/photos/a.154792911323371.33286.154031381399524/429570947178898/?type=1&theater
Could you raise a family on an average Tourism job?
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=548631805228526&set=a.352036204888088.82079.349658158459226&type=1&theater
Would you conclude that Ferrous and Non-Ferrous Mining projects are important to Minnesota's future?
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=373482472787746&set=pb.154031381399524.-2207520000.1387023870.&type=3&theater
Tax Impact Totals
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=370663393069654&set=pb.154031381399524.-2207520000.1387023870.&type=3&theater
A little reminder again just how important mining is to Northeast Minnesota.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=324028714399789&set=pb.154031381399524.-2207520000.1387024051.&type=3&theater
Mineral Uses:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=281155918687069&set=pb.154031381399524.-2207520000.1387024189.&type=3&theater
Duluth Complex and Flambeau Mine Site Sulfide Comparison.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=280755748727086&set=pb.154031381399524.-2207520000.1387024191.&type=3&theater
Flambeau Mine Monitored Discharges
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=280755408727120&set=pb.154031381399524.-2207520000.1387024191.&type=3&theater
Support Minnesota Mining! - MN GOP Photo
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152029261689331&set=a.121525754330.100852.16519899330&type=1&theater
Mineral Resources:
Mineral Resources of Minnesota: Past, Present,and Future
http://www.d.umn.edu/~mille066/Outreach/MN%20Min%20Resources.MESTA11.pdf
Financial Assurance:
Minnesota Financial Assurance Requirements for Non-ferrous Mining
https://www.facebook.com/notes/we-support-minnesota-mining/minnesota-financial-assurance-requirements-for-non-ferrous-mining/297061617096499
Useful Reading:
According to this report, only 10% of 47,000 abandoned mines on BLM and USFS lands have contaminated the nearby waters. http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/blm/wo/MINERALS__REALTY__AND_RESOURCE_PROTECTION_/aml.Par.86533.File.dat/Final%20AML%20Report.pdf
Clean water and the PolyMet copper-nickel project
https://www.facebook.com/notes/we-support-minnesota-mining/clean-water-and-the-polymet-copper-nickel-project/362897807179546
Why Minnesota Should Say Yes to Copper - Nickel Mineral Development!
https://www.facebook.com/notes/we-support-minnesota-mining/why-minnesota-should-say-yes-to-copper-nickel-mineral-development/347564625379531
Polymet's Permit To Mine Requirements
https://www.facebook.com/notes/we-support-minnesota-mining/polymets-permit-to-mine-requirements/329764080492919
The Next Generation of Mining: Protecting Our Environment. Creating Jobs. Demonstrating Global Leadership
https://www.facebook.com/notes/we-support-minnesota-mining/the-next-generation-of-mining-protecting-our-environment-creating-jobs-demonstra/297067923762535
What you should know already about precious metals mining!
https://www.facebook.com/notes/we-support-minnesota-mining/what-you-should-know-already-about-precious-metals-mining/297065813762746
Education:
Copper Development Association Inc.
http://www.copper.org/education/
Digging Into the Promise of Copper
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/volunteer/julaug12/nonferrous.html
Minerals Education Association:
http://www.mineralseducationcoalition.org/
Drilling:
Bedrock core drilling: Mineral exploration in Minnesota
http://www.ideadrilling.com/pdf/Idea_Booklet_01GWithLinks.pdf
Resolutions Supporting Strategic Metals Mining
http://jobsforminnesotans.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Supportive-Mining-Resolutions-newest-to-oldest.pdf
Ecoterrorism:
http://www.akdart.com/enviro5.html
GRAPHIC: Eco-Protesters in Wisconsin Assault Mine Workers
http://mediatrackers.org/wisconsin/2013/07/11/graphic-eco-protesters-in-wisconsin-assault-mine-workers
Environmentalism:
Activist Facts: Research on the people and agendas behind the groups.
https://www.activistfacts.com/
Lord Christopher Monckton ends the Global Warming Debate and proves its a Hoax
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5SitwF0SFg#t=3422
Professor Bob Carter torpedoes the "scientific consensus" on the climate HOAX https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpfMM3bVbhQ
http://www.green-agenda.com/globalrevolution.html
http://markhumphrys.com/environmentalism.html
Agenda 21 and Agenda 2030:
Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015/transformingourworld
Agenda 2030 Translator: How to Read the UN’s New Sustainable Development Goals
http://www.activistpost.com/2015/09/agenda-2030-translator.html
Obama, Pope Francis, COP21, ICLEI, UN Agenda 21 AND 2030, And Global Meetings Sept 2015
https://randrewohge.wordpress.com/2015/08/25/obama-pope-francis-cop21-iclei-un-agenda-21-and-2030-and-global-meetings-sept-2015/
Taking Liberty: Region by Region
http://www.takingliberty.us/TLByRegion.html
Minnesota Green Step Cities
http://greenstep.pca.state.mn.us/
Agenda 21 In One Easy Lesson
http://americanpolicy.org/agenda21/
Keep Minnesota Free
http://keepmnfree.com/agenda21.html
Rosa Koire Speech about Agenda 21
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-qLUQlmBk4
NextStep - Agenda 21 in Minnesota
http://www.nextstep.state.mn.us/res_detail.cfm?id=1059
Agenda 21
http://agendatwentyone.wordpress.com/
Democrats Against Agenda 21
http://www.democratsagainstunagenda21.com/
Freedom Advocates
http://www.freedomadvocates.org/
MorphCity
http://www.morphcity.com/
Stop Agenda 21 and Stop ICLEI in Minnesota
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stop-Agenda-21-and-Stop-ICLEI-in-Minnesota/131897980296187
http://www.globalistagenda.org/
http://green-agenda.com/
America 2050
http://www.america2050.org/
Senile Dianne Feinstein’s Surreptitious Desert Wilderness Protection Act To Block Gold Mining: Agenda 21 Shutting Down The United States Gold Mining, Biden’s Anti Coal, & Obama’s Anti Oil.
http://politicalvelcraft.org/2013/01/09/senile-dianne-feinsteins-surreptitious-desert-wilderness-protection-act-to-block-gold-mining-agenda-21-shutting-down-the-united-states-gold-mining-bidens-anti-coal-obamas-anti-oil/
Green Funding:
Russian Money and Useful American Idiots: The Same Old Story
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/02/russian_money_and_useful_american_idiots_the_same_old_story.html
Social Capitalists: Wall Street's Progressive Partners
https://intercontinentalcry.org/social-capitalists-wall-streets-progressive-partners/
Green Decoys
https://www.greendecoys.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/green-decoys-report.pdf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEKMu7ooJFs
Voting Records Regarding Environmental Issues:
League Of Conservation Voters:
http://scorecard.lcv.org/scorecard?year=2013
Minerals Sourcing:
Special Report on Consumer Electronics: The Human Toll Behind the Minerals
http://www.reprisk.com/marketing/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/131218-RepRisk-Special-Report_Consumer-Electronics.pdf
Polls:
QUESTION: Do you think Minnesota should approve or reject the application from PolyMet for a new copper and nickel mine on the Iron Range?
http://www.startribune.com/politics/245848511.html
New Survey Shows Support for the Future of Minnesota’s Mining Industry
http://jobsforminnesotans.org/new-survey-shows-support-for-the-future-of-minnesotas-mining-industry/
Videos On Mining:
Ely's Jay Mackie speaks on Ely and mining.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=k5n6RY9gzPA
Ely's Bill Erzar speaks on impact of mining on schools.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xXuq_USSkkATom
Rukavina support for ferrous and non ferrous mining.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=i1J32JO27qY
Rep. Rick Nolan backtracks on support for PolyMet permitting bill
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/12/09/1261434/-Rep-Rick-Nolan-backtracks-on-support-for-PolyMet-permitting-bill#
Records of Decisions will be published February 2016
The MN Department of Natural Resources (Co-Lead Agency)
MDNR website on the Northmet Project has posted that their Adequacy Decision is expected to be issued in February 2016, after review of the public comments.
The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers (Co-Lead Agency)
The USACE has posted the following on its website:
"The Corps will continue its permit evaluation process by preparing a Record of Decision, which will be used to determine whether a Department of the Army permit for impacts to waters of the U.S., including wetlands, should be granted or denied. The time frame for the Corps’ permit decision is dependent upon the timing of permit decisions by state agencies, such as the Minnesota DNR and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency."
The U.S. Forest Service
The USFS has already posted its Draft Record of Decision, which favors the land-exchange and even returns one tract of land to minimize the dollar difference which the Forest Service would have had to pay Polymet. Following the public comment period, the USFS will make its final Record of Decision.
---
All three decisions will be published by the end of February 2016.
Inept
http://dailysignal.com/2015/12/21/epa-now-says-theyre-not-to-blame-for-gold-king-mine-spill/
the EPA actually has humans that are scary in positions of power.
this is an agency that needs to be abolished.
latest news out
http://www.wellgreenplatinum.com/news_2014_sept_08_wellgreen_platinum_announces_filing_of_updated_mineral_resource_estimate_for_its_wellgreen_project_and_upcoming_precious_metals_summit_webcast_presentation.php
http://www.wellgreenplatinum.com/news_2014_sept_03_wellgreen_platinum_reports_updated_and_increased_metallurgical_recoveries_at_the_wellgreen_pgm-ni-cu_project_in_the_southwestern_yukon_territory.php
2014-09-09 19:39 ET - In the News
Lawrence Roulston, in the Aug. 26, 2014, edition of Resource Opportunities, tells readers why to buy Wellgreen Platinum Ltd., recently 70 cents. Mr. Roulston said buy on July 27, 2011, at $2.90 and on Nov. 29, 2013, at 54 cents. A $1,000 investment for each buy is now worth $1,536. Wellgreen is updating its preliminary economic assessment (PEA) of its Wellgreen platinum group metal (PGM) project in the Yukon, with results expected in September. This work follows an updated resource estimate. The Wellgreen project contains measured and indicated resources of 5.5 million ounces of platinum plus palladium plus gold (3E), with a further 13.8 million ounces of 3E inferred. As well, it hosts 1.9 billion pounds of nickel and one billion pounds of copper indicated, with another 4.4 billion pounds of nickel and 2.6 billion pounds of copper inferred. These figures make the project one of the largest PGM deposits outside South Africa or Russia. Wellgreen's next steps are to complete the updated PEA, start a prefeasibility study right after that and start a full feasibility study next year. Mr. Roulston concludes that the company is "almost certain to rise in the near term" as investors start to appreciate its "world-class" project.
new analyst coverage
H. C. Wainwright & Co., LLC is an investment bank dedicated to providing corporate finance, strategic advisory and related services to public and private growth companies across multiple sectors and regions.
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At Surface and Out of Africa: CEO Greg Johnson on Wellgreen Platinum’s Yukon Project
Wednesday July 2, 2014, 3:30pm PDT
By Teresa Matich+ - Exclusive to Platinum Investing News
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At Surface and Out of Africa: CEO Greg Johnson on Wellgreen Platinum's Yukon ProjectSouth Africa, long known as a platinum and palladium powerhouse, saw an end to a protracted miners’ strike last week. However, the white metals are still rallying, and South African mines will take time to ramp up production again. In light of those factors, investors and analysts may be interested in looking at companies that operate outside that country.
One such company is Wellgreen Platinum (TSXV:WG), which holds the Wellgreen deposit, a large PGM-nickel-copper deposit in Canada’s Yukon. It features mineralization that begins at surface rather than deep underground, making it noteworthy for miners and investors alike.
To find out more about the company, Platinum Investing News (PIN) spoke with Wellgreen’s president and CEO, Greg Johnson. In the interview below, the CEO discusses the unique characteristics of the Wellgreen deposit, the importance of PGM projects in mining-friendly jurisdictions and what’s next for Wellgreen Platinum.
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PIN: Just to start off with, I don’t think we’ve covered Wellgreen extensively on our network before, so could you tell our readers a bit about your company?
GJ: Wellgreen is a PGM-focused exploration and development company, and our primary asset is the Wellgreen project, which is located in the Yukon territory. It’s one of the largest undeveloped platinum and palladium resources in the world at about 10 million ounces, and it’s an open-pittable type deposit. This is quite unique in that most of the world’s platinum and palladium is concentrated in Southern Africa and Russia, so a large deposit in general is quite rare, and one that’s located in Canada in an open-pittable type configuration is even more scarce, so we’re seeing strong investor interest in the company. We just recently completed a $6.9-million financing that’s going to allow the company to move seamlessly into the prefeasibility level of activity this field season.
PIN: How does the Wellgreen deposit compare to others around the world?
GJ: Wellgreen is one of the largest undeveloped projects of its kind in the world, and has the potential to be a very significant producer. Most of the world’s platinum and palladium production is coming from deep, underground mines that are quite costly to operate, very labor intensive and don’t have the ability to really scale up the way you can with an open pit.
Our project is quite unique in that its very wide widths of mineralization start right at surface and are typically between 100 and up to 700 meters wide. So in many ways our project would look more like a porphyry copper-gold type deposit, except that our metals are PGM and nickel. This is a project that was historically developed back in the 1970s by HudBay Minerals (TSX:HBM) as a high-grade underground operation, but since the late 90s, the focus has been on looking at it as a bulk mineable deposit, and that has been the focus of Wellgreen Platinum’s activities as well.
PIN: Interesting. I’ve seen a few comparisons between platinum deposits; for example, Ivanhoe Mines’ (TSX:IVN) Flatreef deposit in South Africa vs. the Bushveld Complex. How does Wellgreen compare to that deposit?
GJ: In terms of comparison, what makes the Ivanhoe and Platinum Group Metals (TSX:PTM,NYSEMKT:PLG) deposits stand out from the others in South Africa is that even though they’re mostly underground, they have much greater widths of mineralization than is typical of the area. I believe with Platinum Group Metals it’s around 25 meters width and I think for Ivanhoe it’s up to 90 meters in width.
Our mineralization on the western end of the Wellgreen deposit, where it’s the narrowest, is about 100 to 200 meters in width, and it widens out to over 500 meters at surface in the central part of the deposit; it then expands to almost a kilometer wide at the eastern end of the deposit where it’s open. So it’s a very large system, and we’re also fortunate with the geometry, since mineralization starts right at surface as opposed to being a kilometer deep or more, which is more typical in South Africa and Russia. And that’s just really the result of the particular geologic setting that we have at Wellgreen, which means that it happens to be exposed right at the surface. That allows us to look at far wider zones of mineralization with a slightly overall lower grade because it’s open-pit mining cost as opposed to underground mining cost.
PIN: How unusual is it to have an open-pittable platinum deposit?
GJ: It’s quite unusual, around 95 percent of the world’s platinum production is from underground mines. There are a handful of projects in the first world that are open pit and those tend to be the lowest-cost producers. I think much like we’ve seen in the gold and the silver business over time we’re going to see a migration towards the lower-cost, higher-scale, open-pit type operations. The challenge is you have to have the right kinds of geology, the right rocks to host these deposits, and the ultramafic rocks that host ours are exceedingly rare; they only occur in a few places globally.
PIN: And you said there was historic mining in the area?
GJ: Yes, the historic infrastructure is still in place and available. We are right now updating our preliminary economic assessment on the project and targeting this summer for release. It will update the overall resource estimate on the project, as well address the major objective of converting a significant portion of the inferred ounces into measured and indicated.
Importantly, it will also update the overall approach to the mining of the project. The new approach that’s being developed is looking at a smaller-scale operation that has lower capital investment up front, but is focused on higher-grade material, so we think that should enhance the economics. Then, later in the mine plan, the project gets naturally wider as we start mining deeper and towards the east the project; at that point, we would likely scale up to a higher throughput level with the geometry of the deposit changing. And that could result in the project being one of the largest first-world PGM producers.
PIN: What does your timeline look like in terms of getting to commercial production?
GJ: Right now we are looking to start prefeasibility activities in the second half of this year. That would likely allow us to start feasibility activities in 2015, so potentially we could be looking at a construction decision in 2017, which would allow for first production in 2018 or perhaps 2019. For a development-stage project, it has the opportunity to move quite rapidly, and because the Yukon is one of the best jurisdictions for mining in Canada, there’s a very straightforward permitting and regulatory process to move the project forward to production.
PIN: Your website highlights the importance of your project being outside of South Africa and Russia, which have been problematic jurisdictions in the past, but are the world’s largest PGM producers. What is the importance of platinum and palladium projects outside of these jurisdictions?
GJ: Starting on the demand side in general, the fundamentals for platinum and palladium are quite different than what we see today in gold and silver. Platinum and palladium are also precious metals, but the single largest use for both is catalytic converters in automobiles. So we’ve basically seen nearly continuous demand growth since the mid-1980s for platinum and palladium, particularly for catalytic converters. As higher emissions standards are implemented in the first world and in the developing world, we’re seeing that growth continue.
That demand growth was matched up until the mid-2000s, with new mine supply of platinum and palladium as one might expect, but because of the challenges of mining deep underground in South Africa and in Russia, we’ve seen falling mine supplies since 2006 for platinum and since 2004 for palladium. The main decrease in supply on the platinum side was due to a decrease in production supply from South Africa, while the main decrease in supply of palladium came from decreasing supply out of Russia. So the opportunity to have a project located in Canada that has an open-pittable and very saleable configuration that could add to the source of supply outside of Southern Africa or Russia has real strategic value.
PIN: Given the current situations in Russia and South Africa, what do you think the future holds for PGM producers in North America?
GJ: Well, the trend was in motion well before the strike in terms of declining supply out of South Africa and Russia, so most analysts continue to project deficits in terms of mined supply vs. total demand for the metals. That’s obviously very bullish for projects that are in areas that don’t have the same kind of political and operating risks that we see today in South Africa and Russia. We would not expect that the removal of the strike would significantly change the overall fundamentals, and in fact, you’ve taken about a million ounces of platinum off the market this year from the strikes, so potentially with that lack of production taking away additional sources of supply for the market, I think analysts are expecting looking to see continued price increases looking forward to at least 2020.
June 24, 2014 – Vancouver, B.C. – Wellgreen Platinum Ltd. (TSX-V: WG, OTC-QX: WGPLF) is pleased to announce that it has completed its previously announced bought deal financing (the “Offering”) led by Dundee Securities Ltd., along with Edgecrest Capital Corporation, Haywood Securities Inc. and Mackie Research Capital Ltd. (collectively, the “Underwriters”), along with H.C. Wainwright & Co., LLC as U.S. Placement Agent. Pursuant to the Offering, 10,615,650 units of the Company (the “Units”) were issued, at a price of C$0.65 per Unit, for total gross proceeds of C$6,900,172, representing the base offering size of 9,231,000 Units and the exercise in full of the over-allotment option for an additional 1,384,650 Units.
The Company will use the net proceeds of the Offering toward initiation of Pre-feasibility studies on its flagship Wellgreen PGM-Nickel-Copper project, to further exploration and development of its properties and for general corporate purposes.
Each Unit consists of one common share (“Share”) of the Company and one common share purchase warrant (“Warrant”). Each Warrant entitles the holder thereof to acquire one Share at a price of $0.90 for a period of 24 months following today’s date. In the event that the Company’s shares trade at a closing price of greater than $1.35 per share for a period of 10 consecutive trading days, the Company may accelerate the expiry date of the Warrants by giving notice to the holders thereof and, in such case, the Warrants will expire on the 30th day after the date on which such notice is given by the Company.
Greg Johnson, Wellgreen President & CEO, states, “The Company appreciates the high level of participation from our existing shareholders and the strong level of interest from new investors in this offering. These funds will facilitate the continued advancement of our flagship Wellgreen project and will enable us to take full advantage of the field season to initiate Pre-feasibility-level work, while we finalize engineering on the updated Preliminary Economic Assessment.”
All Officers and Directors of the Company participated in the financing, subscribing for an aggregate of 535,769 Units. Pursuant to Multilateral Instrument 61-101 – Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions
ELY — The St. Louis County Board voted 6-0 Tuesday for a resolution against a far-reaching Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for the Superior National Forest at a meeting that turned rambunctious with outbursts by mining opponents.
The meeting drew about 70 people equally split on the issue.
County Commissioner Keith Nelson called for a break in the session for decorum and some police presence.
“I asked for law enforcement so that everyone would be treated with respect. I was concerned about the atmosphere in the room. All of them (copper/nickel/precious metals opponents) were allowed their five minutes to speak to the board. But as soon as we started to speak they became disrespectful,” said Nelson, who had pushed for a County Board roll call vote on the resolution.
Nelson took on the “environmental industry” that he said “is a big-money industry who buy their influence with high-powered attorneys.”
That triggered an angry response from someone in the audience who said he was “lying,” Nelson said. “I told them I represent about 30,000 people and I am their elected voice ... it’s not a high-paid lawyer representing my people.”
Commissioner Frank Jewell of Duluth, who eventually abstained rather than voting either way, said that the County Board should not be weighing in on the issue.
“He talked against the resolution but then couldn’t bring himself to say the word ‘no,’ Nelson said.
Some special interest groups, including Friends of the Boundary Waters, which is opposed to any copper/nickel/precious metals mining, want the PEIS. They requested the U.S. Forest Service to do one.
A recommendation on the proposal is expected soon by the regional USFS office, which would then be passed up to Washington.
Resolutions against the PEIS have been approved by some Iron Range councils, including Aurora and Virginia.
And the entire Iron Range legislative delegation, DFL Gov. Mark Dayton, 8th District U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan and Democratic U.S. Sens. Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar have all responded in a Mesabi Daily News story a few weeks ago that the PEIS is unnecessary and only proposed as a delay tactic by anti-copper/nickel supporters.
“I respect the way area city councils have taken on this issue. But I thought it was also important for the County Board to send a strong message. The study has been done. The science is in. It’s time to move on,” Nelson said.
Nonferrous mining opponents are trying to block the PolyMet copper/nickel/precious metals project near Hoyt Lakes, which is currently far along in the environmental review phase, and the Twin Metals Minnesota venture near Ely and Babbitt.
Those two projects and others that could follow hold the potential for thousands of direct mining jobs and thousands more of spin-off positions, along with millions of hours of construction work in a region of Minnesota that has a considerably higher jobless rate that the statewide average.
Nelson said he gives Commissioner Patrick Boyle of Duluth credit for voting yes on the resolution. “He realized that 30 percent of all jobs in Duluth are dependent on the mining industry. That wasn’t the case for another Duluth commissioner,” he said, referring to Jewell.
Nancy Norr, who is chair of the Jobs for Minnesotans group that strongly advocates for copper/nickel mining on the Range, said she was pleased with the vote.
“Overall it was a civil and fairly well respectful meeting. It got more heated when the commissioners started speaking and that’s unfortunate,” Norr siad.
She also praised County Attorney Mark Rubin who countered PEIS supporters’ claim that the law requires such a review. “He said, ‘No, it’s not law that has to be done.’ I commend him and staff for doing their jobs really well,” Norr said.
The Jobs for Minnesotans official said U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan also did everyone a huge favor with his history lesson in a Mesabi Daily News story, when he pointed out the issue of mining in certain parts of the Superior National Forest was resolved in the 1978 BWCAW Act.
“Another review is just redundant and not needed,” Norr said Nolan put into perspective in that MDN story.
And at this point do you have as an investor any major mining corporations or large mineral funds that will sort of provide the role of lead order in that financing? Greg Johnson: Yeah, we’ve got — a number of our existing shareholders have invested in each round of financing, including, putting in lead orders. We’ve got a number of new funds that are looking at the company in terms of new investment. These are names that are also invested in other platinum names and are groups that are putting capital to work today. In addition, we are already discussing the project and potential investment from a number of more strategic type investment groups. These could be groups that are affiliated with smelting groups, or some of the producers. I think we’ve got a number of irons in the fire that we’re pursuing. It is still fairly early days at Wellgreen, but there are so few assets of scale in the platinum space, particularly that would likely have an open pit mining cost structure and scalability, and I think as we get out this next set of studies on the resource and on the engineering, and as we’re advancing that we’re likely to see a lot of attention from those groups over the next couple of quarters and years.
Here is the latest...
CEO Greg Johnson provides an overview of Wellgreen’s renewed focus on bringing its flagship platinum-nickel-gold project into production with a revised (and smaller) capex approach, and the moves the company has made to strengthen both its management team and its share structure. Transcript: Greg Johnson: Well, it’s been a fairly busy period for the company. Our new management team all joined about 15 months ago, in late 2012 and at that point the Board brought in a new technically focused management group. We undertook a couple of important things over the last year plus. One was to comprehensively go back and compile all of the existing information on the project back to the 1950s to bring all that into a single database and systematize it and allow our geologists and team to really dive in, engage some of the leading experts in PGMs who helped us to be able to understand the Wellgreen system in context with other world class systems like Norilsk in Russia, the Bushveld down in South Africa. So our work with the new drilling, we have got almost 40,000 meters of new drill information that’s gone into the program since the 2011 resource estimate has really built our confidence in terms of understanding of the system. The early work in 2011 demonstrated that we had a very large system, mostly inferred, and the work that we’re doing now is really reinforcing the scale of the system, in fact, it’s demonstrating that we’ve got what’s effectively becoming a porphyry scale PGM System here, that’s open-pitable. In addition, there were some pretty important structural changes at the corporate level. We had a controlling shareholder that was around a 30% position that we placed entirely in 2013, in new hands, and that restructuring of the company resulted in new Board of Directors and effectively taking that over-hang from those stock sales from that financially distressed investor out of the way so that we would be in a position to be able to take the story out. James West: Okay, was that a Prophecy Coal you are referencing there? Greg Johnson: Prophecy Coal was the original control and shareholder in Wellgreen and they are now effectively completely out of the shares. James West: Okay. So what’s been happening since your new team has taken over? Greg Johnson: Well, in addition to the drilling, the development of the new geologic model, we have been undertaking as well, engineering and metallurgical test work. We’ve got a couple of major milestones here in the second quarter. We are looking to deliver an updated concept on the engineering and production for the project. We are looking at a smaller capital project focused on higher grade material, potentially an open-pit and underground combination operation, and we’re targeting an operation that could be the largest producer of PGMs in the first world, potentially larger than Stillwater; as our target for this project, and clearly the resource that’s coming together is demonstrating that this is a system that could be a very large producer for a very long period of time. In addition, we are getting set up to look at pre-feasibility activities, they are going to get kicked off in the second half of this year and we are targeting to be able to move into feasibility in 2015. James West: Hey, well that’s interesting. Have you been drilling all through the winter this year? Greg Johnson: We drilled up in through November and we’ve been releasing the results of a combination program, it was about 5000 metres of new drilling, including one of the widest intercepts ever hit on the property, 756 meters at almost 2 grams per ton, platinum equivalent. In addition, we had the benefit of being able to go back into historic drilling. Particularly drilling that was done in the 1980s, and we were able to re-log and resample many of it for the very first time, about 20,000 meters of historic drilling. So our combined program was about 25,000 meter program. And all of that is going to go into this new resource estimate that’s going to be coming out in the second quarter and the new preliminary economic assessment. James West: I see! Okay, so then — I had actually visited the Wellgreen project back in 2011 and at the time there was some discussion about a 16-17 kilometer strike length for the whole Wellgreen project. Is that still something that you feel comfortable sort of putting out there? Greg Johnson: Yeah, our property is about 18 kilometers long that we control a 100%. The main focus — we’ve got almost 800 drill-holes in the Wellgreen deposit proper, and that’s about a ten million ounce platinum equivalent resource for platinum, palladium and gold. Along trend of that, we have got a series of other deposits that are also associated with these ultramatic systems. (00:05:12) Most of the work on those was done in the 1980s. There really hasn’t been much more modern work done since that time. But we undertook some surveys on project, both of magnetics as well as surface sampling and we have identified two very high priorities areas. One that is the continuation of the Wellgreen to the East called Quill and that’s about a two-and-a-half kilometer long anomaly combination of soils and magnetics. And then the second is the Burwash area which historically was actually a separate property that was optioned by INCO and others looking for high grade massive sulfide deposits. And that deposit has a very strong signature similar in scale to Wellgreen itself, with historic drilling shallow holes, but some interesting results in some of that historic work. And with the new surveys that we have, we’ve got some very large targets that we’re hoping to be able to test this year. All of this is on the road. So all of this, if we can develop additional open-pitable resources could be processed through a centralized facility and all of it could be looked at as kind of a single coherent district James West: I see! Interesting! So those discrete deposits to the East that you mentioned in Burwash and Quill, are those — you don’t think those are contiguous possibly connected to the main Wellgreen deposit? Greg Johnson: Well, the geology is mapped as continuous. But we don’t have a lot of information on there yet. A lot of that is based on outcrop mapping and magnetics in particular. The Ultramatic Host Rocks for the deposits do have a high degree of magnetic minerals in them. So magnetics can be a very good tool, but until we actually have a series of drill-holes across those, it’s hard to say whether or not this is going to be continuous. Certainly when you look at Quill, and you look at the strength of the magnetic signature at Wellgreen, and the fact, that that runs unbroken into the Quill target, one could argue that there is a strong probability that there is continuation of Wellgreen into Quill. Burwash, it almost appears that there is a — the area that our main access road comes in and the Quill creek drains out of — it looks like there may be some kind of important structure; geologic structure that goes through there. And sometimes in geology and ore deposits, big structures can be important. So it looks like we may have a little different geometry as we get across into Burwash. And we don’t know what level we’re looking at in the system, we could be looking deeper than we are at Wellgreen. So we’re pretty excited to take a look at that and see what comes out of it. James West: Sure! Okay, so what is the drilling budget for 2014 in terms of dollars and metrage? Greg Johnson: So we’re basically looking to start a pre-feasibility level program in the second half of the year. So that’s probably going to kick off sometime in June. We are talking of $5-$10 million program, and actually that’s likely to be something that’s going to be in the 5,000-10,000 meter program combination, probably of reverse circulation and core drilling. We haven’t finalized, right now we’re going through and developing our priority target list, and I can tell you that our target list is probably going to be longer than what we’re going to be able to go after, so you know we’ll clearly be prioritizing within our priority list. But there are some very exciting targets. Some of the very best holes at Wellgreen have not had the natural step-out adjacent to them, and so, were going to want to test some of these targets at Quill and Burwash look like, very promising targets. So I think we would want to test some of those. So it’s going to be a combination of both, infill confirmatory work, as well as step out and expansion work and testing some of these new targets. James West: And I assume that’s all in support of an updated revised resource calculation? Greg Johnson: Yeah, so we’ll have an updated resource out this second quarter along with the updated economic approach looking at this smaller capital, higher grade start-up concept. And then, we would look to put out a pre-feasibility update to that probably early in 2015 and then begin the feasibility work in the remainder of 2015, with potentially permits could be completed by late 2016 on the projects. (00:10:03) So, we do have the opportunity that this thing can move quite rapidly, particularly mining is the industry in the Yukon, as you know. So they’ve got a good process in terms of going through environmental assessment, The Kluane First Nations are strong supporters of the project and we see the project being able to move fairly quickly through that process. James West: Sure! Okay, so in terms of financing a $10 million drill program in 2014, does Wellgreen have that capital in the bank? Greg Johnson: We are going to need to raise some money, and so we’re basically going to be looking to raise, probably something in the $5-$10 million range. It’s depending on the outcome of that investment round, that’s going to kind of set the plans in terms of how much work will be done in the summer or into the fall. But that work would be specifically targeted towards that next major milestone of the completion of the pre-feasibility studies. James West: I see. And at this point do you have as an investor any major mining corporations or large mineral funds that will sort of provide the role of lead order in that financing? Greg Johnson: Yeah, we’ve got — a number of our existing shareholders have invested in each round of financing, including, putting in lead orders. We’ve got a number of new funds that are looking at the company in terms of new investment. These are names that are also invested in other platinum names and are groups that are putting capital to work today. In addition, we are already discussing the project and potential investment from a number of more strategic type investment groups. These could be groups that are affiliated with smelting groups, or some of the producers. I think we’ve got a number of irons in the fire that we’re pursuing. It is still fairly early days at Wellgreen, but there are so few assets of scale in the platinum space, particularly that would likely have an open pit mining cost structure and scalability, and I think as we get out this next set of studies on the resource and on the engineering, and as we’re advancing that we’re likely to see a lot of attention from those groups over the next couple of quarters and years. James West: Sure! Okay, now what about infrastructure? It seems to me that there were some challenges there in terms of energy, electricity etcetera. Has there been any progress on that front since 2011? Greg Johnson: I mean the Yukon energy is one of the main issues for all projects. Now fortunately, we’ve got the highway that goes past the project and we’ve got our year round access road and the two ports. The one at Skagway and the one at Haines are already in place with capacity to be able to handle our concentrates. So really when we talk infrastructure, for our project, it mostly is about energy with the access roads and things already there. The Yukon has about 20 MW of capacity on the grid. There is a high capacity line near Haines junction which is a about 100 kilometers from the project down the highway. LNG is definitely coming to the Yukon; there is a couple of initiatives that are underway now. The State of Alaska’s Industrial Development Bank is putting in place an LNG facility in Fairbanks, Alaska. They’ve completed their feasibility and they’ve gone to tender for the groups that’s going to construct that, and that’s supposed to be up and running by late 2015. So that’s a possible source for us, and in fact, we are in discussions with the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority right now about a potential MoU on that source of LNG. In addition, about 95% of the Yukon grid is hydroelectric, about 5% of their power comes from diesel and they are upgrading those sets to become LNG and are actually in the construction phase on their first LNG plant that would be tied into the grid now in Watson Lake. So the Yukon Energy Corporation is going to be bringing LNG to the territory for that. So we are going to be looking for this next study, the PEA that was done in 2012, we used diesel as its assumed power source. We are likely to be looking at an LNG-base case, which could be a significant reduction in the cost assumptions for power and it looks like we’ve got two or three different potential sources along with investigating whether or not it may make sense to extend the power line from the main Yukon Energy Corporation Grid. James West: Oh well, great! So it sounds like you’ve got options there. That sounds great Greg! Thanks for taking the time. We’ll catch up with you in the next couple of quarters and see how you are making out. Greg Johnson: I really appreciate your time and look forward to providing you further updates. James West: Thanks very much Greg!
June is it...
CEO stated on Jay Taylor that approxomately 90% of inferred will go to M&I
Wellgreen mineral resource & grades from Wellgreen Project Preliminary Economic Assessment, Yukon, CA, effective Aug. 1, 2012 (Wellgreen PEA)
447Mt@ 0.87g/t PGM+Au, 0.31%Ni, 0.25%Cu
(Inferred Resource) at a 0.2% Ni Eq. cut-off
400MT (ish)
_________
_________
add in RE's
the picture is coming clearer every day...most will "get it" around June
______________________________________________________
Then they will figure out what negative cash costs are
nickel and copper pay for miining and PGM's are "free"
CEO Interview 4/8/14
http://jaytaylormedia.com/audio/
HAhaha, laughing at the nutcases,
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court has declined to intervene in a dispute over construction of a new nickel and copper mine in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
The justices on Monday rejected an appeal from an outdoor sporting club that claims the mine will spoil the environment.
The Huron Mountain Club has been challenging the Eagle Mine in state and federal courts. The club owns 19,000 acres, including land that comes within 3.3 miles of the mine. Some mining will take place under the Salmon Trout River and area wetlands.
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had turned aside the club's arguments that the mine needs federal permits
First Nations, industry plot a new way forward
Eva Holland Friday March 28, 2014
Ian Stewart/Yukon News
p3Alatini.jpg
Kluane First Nation Chief Math'ieya Alatini says she's found the ingredients for a healthier relationship between Yukon First Nations and the mining industry.
At the fifth annual Yukon First Nations Resource Conference in Whitehorse this week, the emphasis was on partnerships and communication.
The two-day conference, which took place Wednesday and Thursday, featured panel sessions with titles like “Working Together to Explore for More,” “Project Certainty through Respectful, Honest and Trusting Relations,” and “Mining: An Economic Opportunity for First Nations.”
Set against the backdrop of ongoing First Nations lawsuits against the Yukon government over mining-related issues, the pitch was clear: engaging respectfully with First Nations can be a net good for the industry, and mining can also be a boon for those First Nations that embrace it.
The final session of the conference, “Advancing Projects and Partnerships,” featured Chief Math’ieya Alatini of the Kluane First Nation as well as representatives from Kaminak Gold Corp. and Wellgreen Platinum.
Allison Rippin Armstrong, director of lands and environment for Kaminak, spoke from an industry perspective about the hows and whys of engaging with First Nations. She argued that exploration companies should not just inform First Nations about their projects and plans, but also listen and ask questions - about wildlife movements, culturally significant sites, and other sensitive areas that can derail a project.
She suggested that open communication, environmental monitoring, cultural significance studies and even reclamation studies should begin before the project begins to have any impact on the land - not after.
By working closely with First Nations and local communities from the outset, she said, “you improve the likelihood of successful and timely permitting. You have a true partnership going into the construction of your project.”
Chief Alatini spoke next, explaining that her drive to engage actively with the industry was a result of her election in 2010, in the midst of an enormous staking rush. The activity, she said, was overwhelming - so the KFN responded by gathering industry and First Nations experts and sitting down to analyze the First Nation’s capacity to provide services to industry, as well as its needs and how industry might be able to help meet them.
The KFN revived its then-defunct Kluane Development Corporation and also created a second institution, the Kluane Community Development Corporation - while the former would focus on wealth generation through tools like limited partnerships and investments, the latter would provide support to local businesses and help to create support services for industry.
The most notable project on KFN land right now is Wellgreen Platinum, which is touted as one of the world’s largest undeveloped deposits of platinum and its related group of metals. Located just off the Alaska Highway north of Burwash Landing, the Wellgreen deposit was mined briefly in the 1970s. If it’s revived as a working mine it has the potential to be the third-largest producer of platinum in North America.
The project is noteworthy not only because it’s a deposit of rare and in-demand platinum, but because when Chief Alatini signed an impact benefit agreement with then-owner Prophecy Platinum in August 2012, the Kluane First Nation received an unspecified number of shares alongside the usual education and employment incentives. Wellgreen was just the third mining project in the North to offer shares to a First Nation - two others, Brewery Creek and the N.W.T.‘s Nechalacho rare earths project, signed similar agreements in July 2012.
Chief Alatini has ambitious plans for her First Nation’s involvement in the potential mine. “If the mine site goes ahead, we want to be ready for it,” she told the conference attendees. The KFN wants its citizens to get the training necessary not just for unskilled positions - “we want geologists, engineers,” she said. “We want to see highly skilled individuals with the ability to establish long careers.”
The First Nation is looking into ways to provide an array of services to the mine site, from haulage and camp services to employee housing and roadwork. It’s even contemplating the possibility of building its own LNG power plant, to power the mine and to reduce the community’s reliance on diesel.
The KFN is also involved in the planning for the mine, with quarterly meetings to discuss environmental stewardship, reclamation plans, and other issues. They’re planning for “seven generations,” Alatini said. “It’s a very collaborative approach and it’s working for us.”
After the panel, Chief Alatini spoke to the News about her approach to dealing with industry. “We didn’t want to just be reactive, we wanted to be pro-active,” she said. “I think the way we’ve engaged all the industry players that have been in our area, we’ve developed really good working relationships with them.”
She isn’t afraid to say no to industry when necessary, she said. “We’re able to do that in a respectful manner that doesn’t have to be in the media and doesn’t have to be in the courts. We’re able to sit down and say ‘This is not going to work for us.’”
Her advice for First Nations looking to work directly with the mining industry: “Know what your parameters are. Know what you definitely don’t want. Know your limits. And then get informed about the industry so that you’re making informed decisions.”
As for the industry, she says that reaching out to local First Nations is the first step. “Call, number one. Create awareness about your project and your intent.” The second step? “Be prepared to answer some questions but also to ask questions. Are there concerns?”
“Those are the ingredients,” she said, for a healthier relationship between Yukon First Nations and industry.