What We’re Fighting For

Wolfden Resources, LLC, a Thunder Bay, Canada-based "junior mining company", is currently in the process of petitioning Maine's Land Use Planning Commission to re-zone 528 acres of land in Penobscot County--5 miles from Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument--to allow for the development of an underground polymetallic sulfide mine. They propose bringing 1300 tons of sulfide ore to the surface per day for 10 years. When sulfide ores are brought to the surface and exposed to oxygen and water, or when groundwater fills underground cavities created by mining activity, the sulfide breaks down into sulfuric acid and releases the toxins and heavy metals it contains--including lead, mercury, cadmium, nickel, and arsenic--in what becomes a self-perpetuating and often runaway process called Acid Mine Drainage.

This is before the toxic process of extracting the desired metals--gold, silver, copper, lead and zinc--even begins. After bringing the sulfide to the surface Wolfden plans on crushing and grinding the ore until the particles are only 14 micrometers in size, about half the size of a white blood cell, and adding chemicals including cyanide to "float" the desired metals to the surface. Just like with coffee, the finer the grind, the stronger the leachate and pollution. Wolfden's plan for dealing with contaminated water is to treat it and literally inject it back into the groundwater. From their Preliminary Economic Analysis "Treated effluent water ...is allowed to discharge to the environment via several septic fields named potential discharge points (PDP). These discharge points function in such a way to ensure the released water weeps (disperses) back into the ground water below the surface as it would if the project did not, take place."

In addition to the Penobscot County proposal, Wolfden has announced plans to develop a mine in Pembroke, Maine just 2 miles from Cobscook Bay, and even closer to the significant Pembroke Aquifer. They are calling this project "Big Silver".

While Wolfden is a "Junior" mining company and has never actually developed a mine, it is run by Ron Little who started Orezone, a mining company working in Burkina Faso West Africa, and is fiscally backed by Kinross Gold, the fifth largest gold mining company in the world.

Additionally, the USGS and Maine Geological Survey, have just announced that they will be conducting low-level flights over Maine with magnetic and radiological sensors to survey the composition of the subsurface of the earth up to several miles deep. Maine is thought to contain vast underground deposits of valuable metals--including lithium--throughout the state, and if Wolfden demonstrates the feasibility of mining here, there will be no stopping the influx of companies attempting their modern alchemy of turning our precious water and earth into their precious gold and wealth.

To provide some context, there has been no metallic mining in Maine since the closure of the Black Hawk Mine in Blue Hill in 1977 which required $9 million in taxpayer funded cleanup. The Callahan Mine in Brooksville, which ceased operations in 1972, is now a superfund site and will cost taxpayers $45 million to remediate, but will still never be fully cleaned up. A bill was passed in 1991 prohibiting the contamination of groundwater from mining which effectively acted as an outright ban. In 2012, under pressure from Irving who wanted to develop an open pit mine at Bald Mountain, the Legislature passed a bill directing the DEP to "modernize" the regulatory process for permitting mining. This culminated in LD820, the 2017 Mining Bill, hailed by some as the most stringent in the nation. Unfortunately LD820 actually removes the permitting requirements for mineral exploration, removes the site development permits for mines including storm-water run off permits, and explicitly states “contamination of groundwater from activities permitted under this article may occur within a mining area,” and that “suchcontamination must be limited and may not result in ... [C]ontamination of groundwater within the mining area that exceeds applicable water quality criteria for pollutants other than pH [acidity] or metals.” (emphasis added) Acid Mine Drainage and heavy metals contamination are explicitly permissible according to Maine's existing statute, and this opening has been enough to encourage the mining industry to get their foot in the door.

Currently the LUPC is accepting comments on Wolfden's Penobscot County rezoning petition referred to as Pickett Mountain, and concerned citizens, including a group calling itself Friends of Cobscook Bay, are organizing to protect the integrity of the human and natural communities at risk from the activities of this inherently toxic extractive industry. Any feedback, support, encouragement, contacts or resources you may be able to provide to prevent these threats from materializing would be much appreciated--even if that just means spreading the word and raising awareness.
Thanks so much for your time, consideration and concern for the health of Maine's waters and communities.

Stop Big Silver & Friends of Cobscook Bay
Pembroke, Maine

PS Please reach out with questions and check out resistmainemining.org for more info and background!