Open-pit iron ore mine proposed for northern Wisconsin near Lake Superior

MILWAUKEE, Wis. -- According to an article posted today in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel On Line, a company called Gogebic Taconite, an affiliate of a privately held coal mining company, has purchased mineral rights on 22,000 acres in Ashland and Iron counties in northern Wisconsin and proposes spending more than $1 billion to develop a large open-pit iron ore mine on an ancient mountain range.

A spokesperson from The Nature Conservancy says the organization has concerns over the effect mining would have on pine martens, woodland birds such as the black-throated blue warbler and on the Kakagon and Bad River sloughs, the largest such vegetative areas on Lake Superior. Read the article.