US moves to protect Minnesota wilderness from planned mine

By STEVE KARNOWSKI
Associated Press

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The Biden administration has moved to protect the pristine Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northeastern Minnesota from future mining. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland signed an order Thursday closing over 350 square miles of the Superior National Forest to mineral leasing for 20 years. Haaland says the decision is intended to protect the Boundary Waters for future generations and to boost the local recreation economy. But the move deals a potentially fatal blow to the proposed Twin Metals copper-nickel project near Ely, which is suing in federal court to try to reclaim the mineral rights leases that the Biden administration canceled last year.