Mining threatens all our communities

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The new year brings a spirit of optimism and motivation. And our warmer-than-average winter season reminds us that there is work to be done to address our rapidly changing climate.

I recently returned from the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference, a global gathering dedicated to transformative climate change action, where I joined more than 300 other Indigenous delegates from around the world at the International Indigenous Peoples Forum on Climate Change. The message was clear: the time is now to find solutions and make changes to protect our world. But while there is urgency, we must be careful to ensure these solutions are not advanced at the expense of others, particularly Indigenous communities.

History is littered with examples of Indigenous communities being exploited for the resources on our ancestral land; a legacy of profits being prioritized over our people’s health, cultures, traditions, water and land.

The United States government has now set its sights on critical metals and minerals that will be used to build electric car batteries and other materials that are deemed essential in the green energy transition. According to the International Energy Agency, demand for clean energy minerals such as graphite, lithium and cobalt is expected to grow by up to 500% by 2050 to meet the needs of the clean energy transition. And with 54% of the energy transition minerals globally being located on or near Indigenous Peoples’ lands, I fear that history is repeating itself.

This issue hits particularly close to home as the proposed Tamarack Mine, a nickel mine brought forward by Talon Metals, is located within 1.3 miles of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe community. Nickel mines have a consistent track record of pollution, both during and after operation. Abandoned hard rock mines have contributed to the contamination of an estimated 40% of the country’s rivers and 50% of its lakes. The proposed Tamarack nickel mine is a threat to the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe — to our people, to other Indigenous groups, our land and to the broader Minnesota population and our state’s natural resources and watersheds.

Talon Metals is positioning its nickel mine as an urgent solution to electric vehicle production demand. The Mille Lacs Band supports the transition to a green economy. However, we believe a green economy can be advanced without relying on practices that threaten Indigenous people and resources.

That’s why we launched Water Over Nickel, to ensure our voices and our concerns about the impact of nickel mining on native communities will be heard and acknowledged.

We have yet to see any science or data from Talon Metals to show that nickel mining can be done safely. Yet we continue to see Talon aggressively expanding its mining exploration activities beyond its original plans and the area outlined in the permit it has submitted to the Minnesota Department of Resources. Their actions mirror what we’ve seen before: entering with a modest proposal that rapidly swells in size and scope, leaving damage in its wake.

As Talon continues to make the case for its mine to both state and federal government agencies, I encourage Minnesotans to remain cautious and skeptical about their claims that nickel mining is the solution to advancing a clean and green economy. Every day, we see new alternatives to mining to support the production of electric vehicles, whether by supplementing supply through metal recycling (according to research at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, recycling could meet 37% to 91% of demand for critical raw materials in clean energy technologies in 2050) or leveraging new battery formulations using lithium iron phosphate (LFP).

I urge Minnesotans to use their voices by getting involved with Water Over Nickel, contacting your representatives and participating in the upcoming public comment period for the Tamarack Mine to share concerns about the risks a nickel mine poses to our state. Together, we can advance a green economy while protecting Minnesota’s clean water, land and cultural resources from the negative impacts of mining.

Melanie Benjamin is chief executive/chairwoman of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe.