New Copper Mine near White Pine, Michigan

[MidlandMike]

The Copperwood Mine is a new copper mine adjacent to the shuttered White Pine Mine in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  They are clearing the surface, and mine construction is to begin this year.  They will have a mill, and the concentrate will be trucked 115 miles to Champion for transload to rail.  I suspect they will loading at or near the Eagle Mine Mill at Humboldt.  CN (ex-Soo Line) runs thru the area, and Mineral Range RR (ex-LS&I) serves Humboldt. 

I wonder why they won't be using the out-of-service White Pine branch (ex-Soo/WC).

https://www.mlive.com/public-interest/2024/01/copper-mine-advances-near-michigans-porcupine-mountains.html

Here is an aerial image of the White Pine yard:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/White+Pine,+MI+49971/@46.755745,-89.5704435,457m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x4d564ea19a6ae103:0x476837a8bf114496!8m2!3d46.7529897!4d-89.5835603!16s%2Fm%2F03h0xtt?authuser=0&entry=ttu

 

[Vermontanan2]

MidlandMike

I wonder why they won't be using the out-of-service White Pine branch (ex-Soo/WC).

Ashland County, Wisconsin received around 14 inches of rain in July of 2016.  Much bridge damage to the railroad, but the washout of large fills was probably the worst problem.  Some of this can even be seen on Google Earth south of Marengo near North York and Highbridge.  Not worth rebuilding.  The railroad was taken out of service north of Park Falls.  With the closure of the paper mill at Park Falls, I don't know if any trains even go that far anymore.  There's a pulpwood loading site at Fifield and a Propane dealer in Phillips, and that's probably it for business north of Prentice.  Ashland used to be a railroad hub; now there's nothing left.

[Backshop]

Vermontanan2 is correct.  There is a discussion about the mine going on the Railroads of the Lake Superior Region FB group. Compared to an iron mine, a copper mine has relatively small loads, and it's not worth it to rebuild the White Pine branch.

[kgbw49]

Good for Michigan! There are enormous deposits of copper and other minerals across northern WI and MN, but the "ostriches" in Madison and St Paul and the usual list of associated non-government organizations have been squashing proposals for mine development for decades.

Lansing was probably supportive of this one because of the enormous demand for copper by the new ev factories they are hoping to sprinkle across lower Michigan.

[Euclid]

The loss of mining in the Copper Range area of Upper Michigan has depressed the local economy.  As I recall, White Pine was the last mine in operation.  Eventually, it was shut down and filled with water pumped from Lake Superior.  The historical legacy of the Copper Country mining was an important component of the draw of tourism to the area to help offset the loss of mining revenue.  In the meantime, many held out hope that the mining would make a comeback.

 

But along with the tourists drawn to the copper legacy of the Keweenaw mining district, came those who were drawn to rugged, near-mountainous nature of the Upper Peninsula wilderness and the recreational opportunities associated with that land.  Many tourists seeking the outdoor recreation had no interest in mining or its historical legacy.  Indeed, mining was starting to be perceived as a source of environmental destruction that was a direct threat to the tourists seeking a wilderness experience.  Today, when the mining legacy is mentioned around tourists, they often bristle with disdain rather than marvel at the fantastic story of the copper mining in the area.  This dispute emerges every time a new mining venture is proposed in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.       

 

However, it sounds like maybe this new mining venture might overcome that popular cultural resistance in the area.  I don’t know what will be the configuration of the mining plan for the White Pine Mine site.  However, I recall that White Pine was different than the ultra-deep, hard rock mines for either the Amygdaloid or the Conglomerate copper deposits that were mined in most of the Keweenaw Mining District of the U.P. 

[MidlandMike]

Euclid

However, it sounds like maybe this new mining venture might overcome that popular cultural resistance in the area.  I don’t know what will be the configuration of the mining plan for the White Pine Mine site.  However, I recall that White Pine was different than the ultra-deep, hard rock mines for either the Amygdaloid or the Conglomerate copper deposits that were mined in most of the Keweenaw Mining District of the U.P. 

The main difference is that the Keweenaw Peninsula mines were predominantly native copper, while the White Pine area was copper sulfide, which has its own environmental concerns.

The new mine is near Ontonagon, which lost its paper mill about ten years ago, along with the E&LS (ex-MILW) that pulled back its line from the area.

[Backshop]

The White Pine mine is very close to the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park, one of my favorite places.  It's so nice that it was considered for National Park status.  I'd hate for anything to go wrong.

[Fred M Cain]

Backshop

<SNIP>

Compared to an iron mine, a copper mine has relatively small loads, and it's not worth it to rebuild the White Pine branch.

 

This isn't necessarily true all the time.  It all depends how far the mine is from the smelter.  If the smelter is located near the mine and only copper ingots are to be shipped out - that would be truckloads.

 

However, if the smelter is some distance from the mine, then the tonnage would be more substantial - not as great, perhaps, as iron but still noteworthy.

 

My sneaking suspicion as to why they won't rebuild the branch has to do with economics.  If they were to rebuild the branch, either the mining company, the railroad or some combination thereof would have to foot the bill.

 

However, by sending out ore by the truckload, the taxpayers are helping to foot the bill for the damage to the roads.  This, I believe, is just plain wrong.

 

However, some folks are O.K. with this afterall, since if the trucks had to pay for their fair share of road use, that expense would simply be passed along to the consumer anyway.  So, what is the answer to this dilemma?  Quite simply, I don't have an answer.  This has been our country's attitude toward rail and highways throughout most of th e 20th Century. Many people, far more persuavive than I, have cried out to "level the playing field".  But, sadly, that just never seems to happen.

 

There are, however, some countries in the world that have figured this out.  Here in the U.S., we haven't.  Perhaps we never will.

[Backshop]

Reading information on the site, ore concentrate averaging three railcars a day will be trucked to the rail transfer site, from where it will be sent by rail to the smelter in Canada.

[CMStPnP]

Vermontanan2

Ashland used to be a railroad hub; now there's nothing left.

Not enough of the voting constituency cares.   There have been attempts to preserve at least some of the rail lines up there.    After C&NW quit Ashland service there were calls for the state to step in and sponsor a train but the DOT at the time thought airports and airplanes were the way of the future and even stated as much.    They spent a lot of money with airport upgrades in Northern Wisconsin and the political line given was this was the way to really attract tourism from Chicago because most people that live around Chicago would rather fly their private plane up to Wisconsin versus driving or taking a train.    The DOT Secretary at the time actually said that almost verbatum.    

They made another attempt not too many years ago with WisDOT offering to pay for a small fleet of new rail logging cars for CN but CN was not that enthusiastic about it.    At the time CN was making an argument it had to abandon lines because no business was up there any longer that made sense to haul for the lines it wanted to abandon.   WisDOT said, what about logging?    CN said it did not want to purchase new cars because it would never recover the expense of new cars.    WisDOT said it would buy a small fleet.    Then nothing.

[MidlandMike]

Backshop

The White Pine mine is very close to the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park, one of my favorite places.  It's so nice that it was considered for National Park status.  I'd hate for anything to go wrong.

 

Ten years or so ago, at least the EPA nixed a proposed acid leach project at the White Pine Mine, which could have gone badly.

From further reading I've done, it seems they retained the branchline more to haul in tank cars of acid, that to haul out ore concentrate.  A local tribe blocked the line in protest of the proposed mining project.

[MidlandMike]

Fred M Cain

 

 

Backshop

<SNIP>

Compared to an iron mine, a copper mine has relatively small loads, and it's not worth it to rebuild the White Pine branch.

 

 

 

 

This isn't necessarily true all the time.  It all depends how far the mine is from the smelter.  If the smelter is located near the mine and only copper ingots are to be shipped out - that would be truckloads.

 

However, if the smelter is some distance from the mine, then the tonnage would be more substantial - not as great, perhaps, as iron but still noteworthy.

 

...

It depends on the distance from the mine to the ore processing mill.  The new copper mine will have an onsite concentrator mill.  So it would have much less output than an iron mine pellet plant.  The last iron mine in the Upper Peninsula (Tilden) puts out trainloads of pellets per day.

[Backshop]

Just another thought--Michigan highway weight limits (82 tons) skew the whole truck vs rail debate.  The mine near Marquette already trucks their product.

[MidlandMike]

Backshop

Just another thought--Michigan highway weight limits (82 tons) skew the whole truck vs rail debate.  The mine near Marquette already trucks their product.

 

I'm guessing you are referring to the Eagle nickel-copper mine.  They were planning on a rail line between the mine and Humboldt Mill, but the whole mining project was so bogged down by protest, that they figured a road would do for the ten year lifetime.  They had to reinstall a couple of miles of rail over a rails-to-trails to reach the mill for hauling out the concentrate.