The notion of a gold rush in northern Minnesota has taken a big hit with the exit of one of the world's largest gold mining companies.
AngloGold Ashanti had scooped up 271 state precious-metal mining leases in recent years, encompassing 105,900 acres. But the company terminated them at the end of last year, quietly ending a significant exploration project here to focus on a more promising venture in Nevada.
"It's definitely a blow in some respects for exploration in Minnesota," said Dean Peterson, program manager for the economic geology group at the Natural Resources Research Institute at the University of Minnesota Duluth.
South Africa-based AngloGold Ashanti in recent years has held more state precious metals leases than any other company, including several copper-nickel joint ventures.
With AngloGold's departure, the total number of active state leases has fallen from 461 last October to 191 at the beginning of this month — near a 15-year low, according to data from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
"They were by far our largest leaseholder," said Heather Arends, the DNR's minerals potential manager.
AngloGold's leases were concentrated in northeastern Itasca, western St. Louis and southeastern Koochiching counties.
Leasing land is an early step in the long process of trying to development a mine. "To go from leasing to drilling to starting a mine — they are all orders of magnitude," Peterson said.