MADISON, WI (Wisconsin Public Radio)-- The company that wanted to build a massive open pit iron ore mine in far Northern Wisconsin has turned its attention to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan instead.
Gogebic Taconite President Bill Williams says they’ve done exploratory drilling in parts of the U.P. and are now studying the samples, which come from the Gogebic Range and south of the Marquette Range.
Williams says it’s all "early stage" stuff. Officials still have to figure out the ore's quality and quantity, and the logistics of transporting the minerals. But he says the public opinion and political atmosphere are different in the U.P. than it was in Wisconsin. He says the company isn’t finding more support, but it is finding less opposition.
Williams says he likes Michigan’s iron ore mining permitting process, because it has a definitive timeline.
