Mining expert to speak on Kennecott proposed sulfide mine in Big Bay July 22

MARQUETTE -- Mining engineer and expert Jack Parker of Toivola will speak on the proposed Rio Tinto / Kennecott sulfide mining project at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, July 22, at Powell Township School Gymnasium, Big Bay, Mich.

Parker spoke last April at an Earth Day question-answer discussion on this mining issue held at Michigan Tech University. At that time he was releasing his report, "KEMC Eagle Project: A Fraudulent Mining Permit Application," which challenges the Kennecott application to mine nickel and copper on the Yellow Dog Plains near Marquette. Parker claims the application data contains serious errors, particularly in the crown pillar stability.

In the introduction to his report, Parker states, "After three years of studying the application and related documents my original opinion has not changed, but I would add a conclusion that either the writers and all of the reviewers were not experienced and competent in mining and geology, or that their intent was to deceive to ensure that permits would be issued without delay. Maybe both.

"The reader can soon discern that approving the application and granting the permits would endanger life, property and the environment, and thus be illegal."*

Here is a video clip of Parker's participation in the Michigan Tech panel:

Jack Parker, mining engineer and expert, speaks at an Earth Day question-answer session on sulfide mining held at Michigan Tech University on April 22, 2009. Also pictured on the panel are, from left, David Flaspohler, wildlife biologist and MTU associate professor in the School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science; Cynthia Pryor, executive director, Yellowdog Watershed Preserve; Stanley Vitton, mining engineer and MTU associate professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering; and Michelle Halley, senior manager, National Wildlife Federation. Alex Mayer (not pictured), MTU professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering, presented the panel. (Video clip by Keweenaw Now)

The question-answer session followed the showing of the film Mining Madness, Water Wars: The Great Lakes in the Balance, underwritten by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation and produced by Brauer Productions, Inc., and Summit Public Relations Strategies, LLC. This documentary describes scientists’, community activists’, and tribal officials’ views on the Kennecott project’s flaws, which could place workers in peril and jeopardize a Lake Superior tributary and its watershed, and the lack of responsiveness of the government agencies responsible for reviewing permit applications from the company proposing the mine.

Jack Parker's report is available online in pdf format at Lake Superior Mining News.

Read Rio Tinto's reply to Jack Parker's April 2009 report on Save the Wild UP.