Angered by last week’s Congressional vote to overturn a federal mining ban near the Boundary Waters, hundreds of Minnesotans flooded the state Capitol on Earth Day to rally in support of clean water and ask the state to block several proposed projects.
Mining in Minnesota is at a crossroads, and environmental groups are concerned about risks to pristine watersheds from proposed sulfide mining projects aiming to extract minerals like copper and nickel from deep below the earth.
Federal officials under President Donald Trump are eager to support domestic mining operations in Minnesota’s North Woods, and the state is reviewing permit applications for a proposed nickel mining project.
The U.S. Senate on April 16 voted 50-49 in favor of lifting a ban on mining federal land near Ely on the doorstep of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, an untouched stretch of lakes and rivers on the Minnesota-Canadian border. The vote opens the door for Twin Metals, a local subsidiary of Chilean mining firm Antofagasta, to renew applications to mine an area just south of the wilderness area.
The vote motivated hundreds to pack the Capitol rotunda Wednesday, including Gwen Lane who moved to Minnesota six years ago and fell in love with the Boundary Waters. She’s visited five years in a row, and wants her 12-year-old daughter to have access to the wilderness for decades to come. Lane fears mining projects could do irreversible damage to Minnesota waterways, harming the environment and taking away part of what makes living here enjoyable.
“I think today people are fired up and want to fight and be heard,” Lane told Sahan Journal. “Once it’s done, it’s done, and that’s why protecting it is so important.”
on April 22, 2026. Credit: Dymanh Chhoun | Sahan Journal
This is a critical time for Minnesotans to come together to protect water, said Kelly Applegate, Natural Resources commissioner for the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe.
“Honoring the Earth requires us to honor water,” Applegate told the crowd. “Minnesota’s voice can help shape what comes next.”
The Mille Lacs Band is leading the Water Over Nickel campaign against the proposed Tamarack mine north of Lake Mille Lacs. The project, proposed by global mining giant Rio Tinto through its Minnesota partner Talon Metals, aims to be the first nickel-focused mine in Minnesota. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is reviewing the company’s application now, and will open a public comment period on the proposal on July 14.
The Twin Metals and Tamarack projects would both use a method known as sulfide mining, which drills into sulfide ore to extract valuable metals. But when sulfide waste rock is exposed to water and air, it oxidizes and forms what is known as acid mine drainage. That drainage, often compared to battery acid, can cause permanent damage to water and aquatic life.
“They say sulfide mining can be done safely, I say prove it,” said Chris Knopf, executive director of the Friends of the Boundary Waters. “The truth is every single copper-nickel mining project has polluted.”
The Mille Lacs Band and other Minnesota tribes fear the mines would devastate beds of wild rice, a traditional and spiritually significant staple food for Ojibwe people.
This week the Mille Lacs Band joined the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy and nonprofits dedicated to the Boundary Waters to form a new initiative called Convening Across Watersheds. The goal is to strengthen bonds and share resources between campaigns aiming to stop various sulfide mining projects in Minnesota. Those projects could endanger watersheds near the Boundary Waters, Lake Superior and the Mississippi and St. Croix rivers.
“Water connects us all. What happens in one watershed doesn’t stay there,” Applegate said.
