The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources says it is ending its environmental review of the Twin Metals Minnesota's underground copper-nickel-cobalt-platinum mine, while the company says it intends to proceed with the project and is likely to go to court, Kallanish reports.

The state agency has directed its staff to stop work on the environmental review, after the Biden administration last month said it would cancel two federal leases for the proposed mine near Ely, Minnesota. That move by the Interior Department would impact the viability of the project, something the company acknowledged in conversations with state officials, the Minnesota DNR says. The agency says it will close the administrative record and redirect staff resources to other projects. It released a letter outlining the steps to close out project contracts. The state also acknowledged it has major concerns about the location of the tailings disposal facility.

The company says it is working to determine its next steps to advance its mine project.

“A pause on the environmental review process is necessary and appropriate while we defend our project and our mineral rights in court,” it says.

The main issue surrounding the mine has been the proximity of the planned $1.7 billion mine to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW). Twin Metals, an Antofagasta Plc subsidiary, says the mine is not a threat to the BWCAW.

The leases that were first granted in 1966 were cancelled by then-president Barack Obama in 2016. But then-President Donald Trump reversed that decision in 2018. The leases were improperly renewed, the Biden administration says.

Last October, the Biden administration proposed a 20-year ban on mining on 200,000 acres within the Superior National Forest near the BWCA. That moratorium will be decided by year-end 2022. It would prevent new leases of federal lands for two years.