Polymet Mining Corp (PLM)

[E-bo 904]

Into the rabbit hole we go! The real objective is for Allete to secure their own copper supply.

Corporation: ALLETE, Inc

Minnesota Power is a division of ALLETE, Inc and provides electricity in a 26000-square-mile electric service territory located in northeastern Minnesota.

Allete has multiple directors who are on the board of Polymet and (APEX) - Area Partnership for Economic Expansion - APEX is an economic and business development organization for northeast Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin.

http://www.apexgetsbusiness.com/apex/news-&-events


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"ALLETE Clean Energy to pursue its three-pronged tax credit strategy that includes building and operating new wind farms based on longterm power purchase agreements, building wind farms for companies for a development fee or a sale price, and refurbishing its existing wind farms while extending power sales agreements, the company said in a news release.

"ALLETE Clean Energy will build windfarms in North Dakota under a signed power purchase agreement and sale option for Montana Dakota Utilities. Construction there is expected to begin in 2018"

“This is an exciting time for ALLETE Clean Energy as the safe harbor hardware arrives and we can see our growth strategy take shape,”

http://www.hometownfocus.us/news/2017-05-26/Business/Second_2017_shipment_of_ALLETE_Clean_Energy_turbin.html





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Duluth-based Allete thrives as it renews focus on all things energy:

"Energy markets and energy businesses are transforming in ways we've not seen in the past 50 years."

"They've been able to take that cash flow to move into wind, transmission, water and the like,

"They've done a very good job on capital allocation that not only generates high-return projects for shareholders but has also diversified the company away from just coal-fired power generation."


http://www.wadenapj.com/news/business/4266687-duluth-based-allete-thrives-it-renews-focus-all-things-energy



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“The Iron Range Marketing Effort” was sponsored and supported by:

The Hibbing Area Chamber of Commerce; Laurentian Chamber of Commerce; ALLETE/Minnesota Power; ArcelorMittal; Cliffs Natural Resources; Iron Mining Association; Iron Range Engineering; Iron Range Tourism Bureau; Mining Minnesota; PolyMet Mining and the IRRRB.

http://www.virginiamn.com/news/local/iron-range-marketing-effort-attempts-to-changes-views-in-cities/article_e2963148-41ba-11e7-888c-9fe3ebd62741.html



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In Minnesota, utilities and regulators plan for the grid of the future.

Otter Tail Power Co., Minnesota Power and Great River Energy – are being impacted by change, she said. Regulators are seeking to hear from them, too, on what scenarios are seeing in the coming decades, she said.

The need for modernization is in part a function of more renewable energy going online and customer demand for more transparency and a choice of how their energy is produced.

Fresh Energy’s Allen Gleckner says the modernization studies are important because they will prepare for innovations that are coming online, such as smart appliances, while insuring the safety and reliability of the grid.

http://midwestenergynews.com/2017/05/22/in-minnesota-utilities-and-regulators-plan-for-the-grid-of-the-future/



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The real power behind Polymet. (Allete/Glenncore Connection) Alan Hodnik & Stephen Rowland.

Polymet Board of directors.

Alan Hodnik - is an independent director. He has served as president and now CEO of Allete Inc. the parent company of Minnesota Power, since 2009 and has been chairman since 2011. He has been with the Duluth-based company since 1982 serving in various roles, including vice president of generation operations, senior vice president of Minnesota Power operations and chief operating officer. Hodnik was mayor of Aurora from 1988 to 1998. He also is a member of the board of Essentia Health and the Area Partnership for Economic Expansion (APEX).

Stephen Rowland - is an independent director. He has been an executive with Geneva, Switzerland-based Glencore since 1988. Rowland has held various positions with responsibility for international trading in metals and minerals in London, Switzerland and the U. S. Prior to joining Glencore, Rowland worked with Minnesota-based Cargill.

David Dreisinger - is an independent director. He is a faculty member at the University of British Columbia in the Department of Materials Engineering and is currently professor and chairholder of the Industrial Research and Chair in Hydrometallurgy. He has published more than 200 papers and has been involved as a process consultant in industrial research programs with metallurgical companies. Dreisinger has participated in 16 U. S. patents for work in areas such as pressure leaching, ion exchange removal of impurities from process solutions, use of thiosulfate as an alternative to cyanide in gold leaching, and leach-electrolysis treatment of copper recovery from sulfide ores, and the Sepon Copper Process for copper recovery from sulfidic-clayey ores. Dreisinger also serves as a director of Search Minerals, Inc. and as vice president -- Metallurgy/Process for each of Baja Mining Corp, Clifton Star Resources and South American Silver Corp.


Michael Sill is an independent director. He has served since 1994 as president and CEO of Road Machinery & Supplies Co. , a distributor of construction, mining and forestry equipment. Sill served as a financial analyst and commercial lending officer with The Northern Trust Company and has served on the boards of the Associated Equipment Distributors, Associated General Contractors of Minnesota and the Twin Cities Regional Board of US Bank.

Frank Sims has been an independent director since 2008. He worked for Cargill from 1972 until his retirement in 2007. Sims currently serves on the board of Piper Jaffray Companies and South Jersey Industries. Sims has previously served on the board of Tennant Company, as vice chair of the U. S. Marine Transportation System National Advisory Council, was chairman of the board of the North American Export Grain Association and chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.


Polymet Straw owners:


Jon Cherry - has served as president, CEO and director of PolyMet since July 2012. He spent more than 25 years with Rio Tinto, where he worked in a number of positions, including development of the Eagle Mine in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. More recently he was vice president with Rio Tinto, responsible for environmental permitting, legal matters and external relations related to mine development of the Resolution copper project in Arizona.


Douglas Newby - is chief financial officer and has been with PolyMet since 2005. Newby has more than 30 years of experience in the evaluation and financing of mining companies and projects around the world. Before coming to PolyMet he served in different leadership posts with Western Goldfields, Inc. (now New Gold, Inc.) a U.S.-based gold mining company. Newby has also been President of Proteus Capital Corp., a corporate advisory firm that specializes in the natural resource industries. Newby served as managing director of Proteus Consultants Ltd. and managing partner of Moyes Newby & Co. Inc. in the 1990s, both of which provided corporate services to the energy and mining industries.


Joseph Scipioni - is chief operating officer. He previously served as PolyMet president and CEO and general manager of operations. Scipioni previously spent more than 30 years with United States Steel Corporation where he worked in leadership positions, most recently as plant manager of Keewatin Taconite. An advisor to the University of Minnesota Duluth's Natural Resources Research Institute, Scipioni is an officer of the Minnesota Section of the Society of Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration and serves as an executive officer of Mining Minnesota.

Brad Moore - is executive vice president of environmental and governmental affairs. Moore has nearly 30 years' experience in state government, serving as head of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency from 2006 to 2008 and as assistant commissioner for operations of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources from January 1999 to August 2006. Prior to that, he worked in leadership and policy analyst positions with the DNR and the Minnesota Department of Public Service (now the Department of Commerce). Moore joined Barr Engineering in 2008, working on the PolyMet project, before joining the PolyMet team in 2011.

Ryan Vogt - is corporate controller. Vogt has more than 12 years' experience in accounting, financial reporting and internal controls. From April 2004 to April 2012, he was an assistant controller at World Data Products, Inc. Prior to that he was a financial statement auditor at KPMG LLP. Vogt has been with PolyMet since 2012.

Stephanie Hunter - is manager of corporate operations and corporate secretary. She has more than 20 years of legal experience with public companies, including nine years within the mining sector. From January 1999 to March 2004, she was a senior legal administrator and corporate law clerk at Stikeman Elliott LLP. She has been with PolyMet since 2004.

William Murray - is a director and previously served as president and CEO from 2003 to 2008. Murray is an engineer in the mining industry with more than 35 years of experience in construction management and project evaluation in North America and Africa. From April 1993 to 2003, Murray provided consulting services to the mining industry as a principal of Optimum Project Services Ltd. He served with several mining companies and is also a director at Aura Minerals Inc. and Prospero Silver Corp.