.I WILL DELETE ANY SPOILERS (LOGS/PICTURES) THAT INDICATE WHERE THE CACHE IS LOCATED.
The inf and numbers were current at the beginning of the permitting applications. The permits have not been let yet (2016)and most likely the numbers have changed but at least you can get an insight as to what was first planned.
Rarely does one get to see a mining area in its infancy. Look around you. You see only the forest. When and if all the permitting is in place, the land concentrating around the Spruce Road ( a couple of blocks down the highway from waypoint 2 ) and Mile Marker #297 and up to 30 miles to the South and West, will become the country's newest mining area.
Until the permitting is in place- which may take several years- you may see drill rigs and mining trucks. The drill rigs drill 2,300 ft. under the surface of the earth, and every 10 ft. they pull up a 10 Ft 3" diameter core weighing 120pds. It takes 15 mn to pull up this core. The cores are then taken to the warehouse in Ely where geologists analyze the core inch by inch for mineral content. (http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=6f5dcfbf-a16c-41d2-a061-47ac7cd6c361)
For more than a 100 years, until 1967, the Iron Range of Minnesota was the major source of high grade iron ore (ferrous) for the US steel industry, including open pit and underground mining. With advanced technology, a process was invented that used the low grade ore and turned it into taconite pellets. Today this area of NE Minnesota is the only place where taconite is produced.
Geologically this area is known as the Duluth Complex. It is thought that it contains the world's largest undeveloped deposits of non-ferrous (not iron) metals. Exploration for these metals started in this area in the 1940's. Starting in the 1960's through the 1980's mining companies started buying leases on properties that looked viable for mining, however the market price for these non-ferrous metals made excavation too expensive. Times have changed, and at this time several mining companies developing mining strategies for excavation of the non-ferrous metals which lie below the surface of this land.
"While there is significant domestic demand, the United States has very few mines producing these metals. There are no domestic nickel or cobalt mines, and the U.S. imports 40% of the copper it consumes and between 80% and 95% of the platinum, palladium and gold."(Franconia)
After being owned by several smaller companies, the land is now owned by Antofagasta,a Chilean company, one of the world's major copper producers. It was purchased in 2015 for $85 million, headquartered in St. Paul, MN with a Chilean CEO. The area headquarters is near the Trezona Trailhead in Ely,MN. It is a modern building (2011) built to resemble an old mine shaft and office. The focus is on its Birch Lake property, known as the South Kawishiwi Intrusion (SKI), about 6 miles SW of here. Underground mining and underground mining waste storage to minimize surface impact is being planned. The mine is expected to have a life expectancy of 30 years. The metals to be mined will be COPPER, NICKEL, COBALT, PLATINUM, PALLADIUM, and GOLD and SILVER." This project now covers over 25,000 acres of land/mineral interests, which is the largest land mineral base in Minnesota and one of the largest in the world." They also bought leases on two other sites near here which will mine the same minerals. The estimated value of the minerals in 2012 is $100 billion dollars.
Here at the Spruce Road site there will be underground and open pit mining for COPPER and NICKEL.
Ely has grown from an immigrant logging and mining town, to depending on tourism. This mining venture will have more of a positive economic impact on the city than tourism ever could. It will employ people in construction and several hundred in mining. Iron Range colleges have developed mining programs to train future miners in the skills they will need. There is a waiting list to get into this program.
POLYMET - A Canadian company (poly=many; met=metals). The CEO is the former manager of US Steel's taconite plant in Keewatin,MN. It began exploration in 1989. The surface mining activity is located about 20 miles SW of where you are standing. It will be a $600 million construction project employing 300 skilled workers for 3 years. There will be 400 fulltime jobs with an estimated economical benefit of $40 million. There will be about 500 spinoff jobs with a payroll of $242 million. It will generate tens of millions of dollars annually in federal, state, and local taxes. The NorthMet project will be built on the site of the old LTV taconite mine, which it now leases. Polymet is now going through the environmental impact statement process in conjunction with the MPA and the USFS, which may lead to active mining. I say MAY because if the impact statement isn't approved, there will be no mining. There is a growing number of people and conservation groups who are against this mining project due to environmental issues, especially acid mine runoff into nearby lakes and rivers. At full production it will produce annually:
5.8 billion pounds of COPPER - Used in construction, plumbing, electrical wiring,and power transmissions.
1.2 million ounces of NICKEL - Used in high-strength alloys, stainless steel, batteries, and the aerospace industry.
360 tons of COBALT - Used in super alloys, aircraft engines, cell phone batteries, and cell phones.
1.5 million ounces of PLATINUM and 4 million ounces of PALLADIUM and 1 million ounces of GOLD and 25.2 million ounces of silver -Used in catalytic converters that reduce auto pollution, fuel cells, jewelry, dental and medical applications, computers and electronics.
Non-ferrous metals like these are usually found concentrated close to the boundary at a point of contact between different types of rocks. The non-ferrous metals of the 1,100 million year old Duluth Complex are concentrated close to the boundary with the 2,700 million year old Giant's Range Batholith.
You will be looking for an example of GABBRO which forms the Duluth Complex and an example of GRANITE which forms the Batholith.
GABBRO - Seen from a distance it can range from dark gray to black. It has lighter spots containing black reflective crystals.
GRANITE- Can be many colors from black-and- white speckled,to pink. It generally looks light in color from a distance.
TO CLAIM CREDIT FOR THIS CACHE email me the answers to these four questions:
1. Go to waypoint 1. Is the rock GABBRO or GRANITE? N47.49.000 W091 44.639
2. Go to waypoint 2. Is the rock GABBRO or GRANITE? N47 48.787 W091 44.078
3. On which site, 1 or 2, would the non-ferrous metals be more common?
4. On a contact between large areas of geological formation, there is often a surface feature which denotes the geological structure change. When driving between waypoints 1 and 2, what major topographic feature do you cross?
Research: Twin Metals,Polymet, and Franconia; The Ely Echo, Timberjay, MNDNR- Land & Minerals Div., Roadside Geology-Ojakangas