PolyMet Drops Plan to Process Ore at LTV Site

By
Casey Duncan
– 02/03/2011

from the Duluth News Tribune:

PolyMet Mining Corp. announced Wednesday that it no longer plans to produce finished copper metal at its planned processing plant near Hoyt Lakes, a move that will reduce startup costs by a fifth and the number of long-term jobs by a tenth.

“The changes to the project improve the overall economics of the project while reducing environmental impacts,” PolyMet President and CEO Joe Scipioni said in a news release announcing the change. “The project will create approximately 360 long-term, well paid jobs compared to the project’s original estimate of 400 workers.”

PolyMet had planned to produce copper metal, nickel-cobalt hydroxide and precious metal precipitate products. Under the change it will still produce the last two but not copper metal. Instead it will produce and sell high-grade copper concentrate.

The change means the company will have to buy and install less equipment. According to the company’s 2008 cost estimate, the equipment it will no longer buy accounted for approximately $127 million of the project’s $602 million price tag.

The change will also lower energy consumption and reduced waste disposal and emissions at site.

This post was written by

Casey Duncan – who has written 8 posts on Headwaters - Community Journalism for the Great Lakes.

Send an Email


Download Article as PDF