Iron County has given mining company Gogebic Taconite more time to pay on an agreement that allows the company to move forward with a proposed iron mine.
GTAC owed the county $20,000 under a two-year lease agreement. Iron County Board Chair Joe Pinardi said he signed off on a payment extension with GTAC President Bill Williams before the agreement expired Monday. He said GTAC will pay $30,000 to Iron County next year.
“It’s not like I’m spending anybody’s money out of this,” said Pinardi. “I’m trying to protect what we’ve got coming in. So far, we’ve gained $40,000 from the mining company for a lease on a piece of property that they have never done a thing with.”
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Pinardi said the extension allows GTAC to use the land for mining activity through 2017.
“The reason for not having the money to do it is because they just bought a coal mine up in Nova Scotia, Canada. This is what they’ve been telling me,” he said.
A GTAC spokesman could not be immediately reached for comment.
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