(Adds background, reaction from company, environmental groups)
By Ernest Scheyder
Jan 26 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of the Interior
canceled two mineral leases for Antofagasta Plc's
proposed Twin Metals copper and nickel mine in Minnesota on
Wednesday, effectively killing the project and handing a major
win to environmentalists.
The decision shows President Joe Biden's administration is
increasingly comfortable prioritizing domestic conservation
efforts even as demand for minerals used to build electric
vehicles rises amid efforts to combat climate change.
The leases for the proposed mine in northern Minnesota had
first been pulled by then-President Barack Obama's
administration in 2016. But President Donald Trump's
administration reversed that decision.
Biden officials on Wednesday said Trump erred in giving the
leases back.
"We found the leases were improperly renewed in violation of
applicable statutes and regulations, and we are taking action to
cancel them," said U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, adding
that her department has a responsibility to "ensure that no
lessee receives special treatment," though she did not
elaborate.
Twin Metals, which is controlled by Chile's Antofagasta,
said it feels the decision was based on politics and not
science.
"We will challenge this attempt to stop our project and
defend our valid existing mineral rights. We expect to prevail,"
said Twin Metals spokesperson Kathy Graul.
The step was in addition to a plan announced last fall by
the White House to impose a 20-year ban https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/blow-twin-metals-us-proposes-mining-ban-boundary-waters-2021-10-20
on mining in Minnesota's Boundary Waters region, where
Antofagasta hopes to build an underground mine to supply copper
for electric vehicles https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/go-electric-america-needs-more-mines-can-it-build-them-2021-03-01,
which use twice as much of the red metal as those with internal
combustion engines.
The leases were first granted in 1966 and have been passed
between successor companies. No mining has taken place at the
site.
Environmentalists have long feared mining would pollute the
Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, a 1 million-acre
(405,000-hectare) preserve on the U.S.-Canada border.
"It is heartening to have an administration making decisions
with integrity. Twin Metals leases should never have been
reinstated in the first place, and this announcement should stop
the Twin Metals mine threat," said Becky Rom of the Campaign to
Save the Boundary Waters, a Minnesota conservation group.
Reuters reported last year that Biden aims to look abroad https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/biden-looks-abroad-electric-vehicle-metals-blow-us-miners-2021-05-25
for metal supplies and focus on domestic processing into
battery parts. The strategy was a move by Biden to shore up
support with environmentalists and counter to his private
commitment https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-election-mining-idINKBN27808B
to miners during the 2020 presidential campaign to allow more
domestic mining.
The U.S. Forest Service, part of the Agriculture Department,
controls the surface land at the site. The U.S. Bureau of Land
Management, part of the Interior Department, controls the
underground copper deposit and must approve plans to extract
minerals.
(Reporting by Ernest Scheyder; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
Antofagasta (ANTO)
