GTAC Is One Step Closer To Bulk Sampling In The Penokee Hills

Gogebic Taconite (GTAC) is a step closer to begin bulk sampling, a kind of mini-mining of the iron ore body in the Penokee Hills.

In June, GTAC submitted a plan to begin bulk sampling but the Department of Natural Resources told the company they needed more information on things like blasting, air emissions, site access, and wetland impacts.

This week, they got GTAC’s reply. DNR Hydrogeologist Larry Lynch says they’ll take a day or so to determine if they have all the information they need, and then respond to GTAC in a week.

Lynch says this is a new process from the controversial iron ore law passed by the legislature this year.

“This is kind of the way we had it envisioned,” says Lynch. “It’ll be a back and forth. Eventually we reach a point where we say we have enough information to take the next step in the process.”

Lynch says GTAC is proposing an alternative to using explosives, in which they would simply test material that had been blasted previously by U.S. Steel in 1960 to sample the ore body. “However, they did keep the door open that if there wasn’t enough material at the bulk sampling sites, they would still blast.”

This is just the start of a process that will take at least two months, including holding a public hearing in August or September in the mining area. Lynch says the earliest GTAC would be able to begin bulk sampling is October.