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Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

Groups ask attorney general to investigate ties between PolyMet and Glencore

Marshall Helmberger
Posted 7/25/19

REGIONAL— A coalition of 25 environmental and grassroots organizations are calling on Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellision to investigate the relationship between PolyMet Mining Corp. and …

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Groups ask attorney general to investigate ties between PolyMet and Glencore

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REGIONAL— A coalition of 25 environmental and grassroots organizations are calling on Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellision to investigate the relationship between PolyMet Mining Corp. and Glencore, the controversial, Swiss-based corporation that recently became the majority owner of PolyMet.

PolyMet recently obtained all the state and federal permits required to open the state’s first first copper-nickel mine, near Hoyt Lakes. The company is still seeking financing for the estimated $1 billion cost for construction of the facility and has offered no timeline to date for when the project might get underway. The project does still face a bevy of lawsuits over permitting decisions and a federal land exchange, completed last year, that is necessary for the project to go forward.

Glencore officially acquired approximately 70-percent ownership of PolyMet last month, although the company is not named on any of the permits for the project and would not be responsible for any of the financial assurance proposed to protect taxpayers from long-term mine reclamation costs.

The groups, under the auspices of the Minnesota Environmental Partnership, are asking the Attorney General to investigate whether PolyMet concealed its relationship with Glencore in order to mislead the public and hide Glencore from scrutiny during the permitting process. Glencore has come under frequent criticism around the world for human rights abuses, environmental degradation, and labor violations. Glencore is currently under investigation by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission for “corrupt practices” and the U.S. Department of Justice for bribery and money laundering.

“The Attorney General has the authority to investigate Glencore and its potential violations of Minnesota law regarding unfair, discriminatory, and other unlawful business practices,” said Steve Morse, Executive Director of the Minnesota Environmental Partnership. “We are requesting an investigation of PolyMet’s questionable relationship with Glencore before Minnesota allows PolyMet to build our state’s first copper-sulfide mine, the most polluting type of mining on earth.”

PolyMet officials were quick to dismiss the letter. “This is just one more in a long string of attempts by environmental groups to stop the PolyMet project,” said company spokesperson Bruce Richardson. “As a publicly-traded corporation, PolyMet has met all of its financial disclosure obligations in addition to its environmental regulatory commitments.”

Environmentalists insist their concerns are real and suggest that no state or federal agency has taken a close look at the relationship between Glencore and PolyMet.

“This whole thing has been a set-up,” said Paula Maccabee, advocacy director and legal counsel for Duluth-based WaterLegacy. “The reason that PolyMet got away with it is they weren’t upfront about their relationship with Glencore.”