Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
SYLVAIN COLLARD, general manager of the Highland Corporation, briefed the Bessemer City Council on the bright future of mining in the area.
By IAN MINIELLY
Bessemer - Sylvain Collard, general manager of Highland Copper Company Inc., provided the Bessemer city council a brief before they voted on a resolution supporting the Highland Corporation's efforts to open up mines in the area. Collard outlined the three routes Highland is working on.
-The Copperwood project, which will begin construction in the third quarter of 2018 and should employ 250-350 people during construction and 300-400 during full-blown mining operations.
-The Whitepine North project, which is currently in desktop planning and according to schedule, the feasibility plan will be done by 2021, with construction set to begin in 2022, while entering operation in 2025.
-The Highland/UPX, where the Highland company owns almost 500,000 acreas surrounding the Eagle Mine and has given its engineers seven years to identify future mine locations for gold, nickel, copper, and diamonds.
Collard described the ore deposits at the Whitepine North location as three times the size of the Copperwood deposit, or about 1.7 billion pounds of copper that is left in the ground to recover. Likewise, Collard said the completion of the Section Five drilling for Copperwood increased the potential resources of the deposit by 46 percent. The council agree unanimously to support the Highland Corporation moving forward with the projects.
A public hearing and second reading of ordinances 363 and 362 were held. Both ordinances passes 4-0, reducing the old solid waste rules on the books and simplifying Bessemer's building code regulations.
The council agreed the best path forward to change the city's charter is if each council selects 2-3 items in the charter each year to change. Those changes are forwarded to the governors office and then placed on the ballot for the residents to vote. The other option would have been the selection of a 9 person committee from the residents that would rewrite the entire charter.
Each council member agreed to bring three items designated for change out of a possible eight to the next meeting. Charly Loper, city manager, will filter the choices of the council and bring to the next meeting the tally. At that point the council has the option to choose the three it wishes to change as a whole, while discussing the eight potential areas of correction.
The council tabled a discussion on ethics. Allen Archie, Linda Nelson, and to a lesser extent Rob Coleman, felt the proposal to form an ethics committee that reviews potential ethics violations or questions was too stringent. Each of the council members stressed they believe in ethics, with Archie going so far as to recite the motto of the Boy Scouts of America.
Terry Kryshak said he liked the idea of an ethics committee and that it would not be hard to follow and remain ethical. Archie considered the committee's potential to become a "kangaroo court" and hold the council hostage was risky, but Loper explained the committee would have no authority and could only make recommendations to the council. The council asked Loper to scale back the ethics committee and bring to the next meeting.
Under new business, the council agreed on a 3-1 vote, with Kryshak voting against, to keep public two hearings for Special Land Use permits. People seeking one of these permits will be required to have a public hearing in front of the Planning Commission and the city council.
The council accepted the Harma bid to become the cemetery mower and Kryshak provided an update on last weeks meeting at Aspirus Ironwood regarding Beacon Ambulance. Kryshak said Beacon informed the well-attended group they were losing $50,000 per month and needed a solution to stay in operation.
-One solution is to secure a county wide millage. The problem is Watersmeet already contracts out of Iron River and the municipalities do not have the money to raise.
-How does a millage get passed, which then supports a private company, asked Archie. The council agreed Beacon would probably cease being a private company and would become either a mix or part of the public.
-Beacon takes approximately 46 percent of its calls as non-revenue generating. These are things like covering sporting or public events.
Kryshak said there is no plan right now to solve Beacons dilemma and the council agreed to sell two city garages to the Cornerstone Church in Ramsay for $102.
