Kennecott Eagle Mine & Yellow Dog Plains, Big Bay, MI, 2002-present
A coalition led by the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community is fighting an attempt by the multinational mining giant Kennecott/Rio Tinto to operate a metallic sulfide mine in Michigan’s Yellow Dog Plains, just a few miles from Lake Superior. This controversial mining process extracts precious metals from sulfide ore using cyanide and other toxic chemicals and pollutes nearby waters with acid mine drainage. The current struggle to protect the sacred Eagle Rock and Yellow Dog Plains is the most recent battle in a 30-year war against multinational corporations seeking to profit from metallic sulfide mining in Ontario, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Strong grassroots resistance by a remarkably broad coalition—including many former adversaries from the treaty rights conflict over Ojibwe spearfishing—thwarted Exxon/Rio Algom/BHP Billiton's plans to operate a zinc copper mine at Crandon/Mole Lake. After a 28-year struggle the Sokaogon Chippewa Community Mole Lake Band and the Forest County Potawatomi Community joined forces in 2003 to purchase the mine site in 2003 and permanently retired all extant permits.
See also -EPA review of Kennecott Eagle Project