We have compiled a list of simple facts about metallic sulfide mining (acid mining) that you can use in your videos. You can get a whole lot more facts about metallic sulfide mining at Save the Wild UP and read about it in the news and blogs from the region.

As sulfide ore is mined, water and oxygen comes into contact with the ore creating a chemical reaction that forms sulfuric acid, which is very much like battery acid, when the sulfuric acid enters the water table it is known as acid mine drainage and pollutes waterways.

Acid mine drainage has already polluted more than 12,000 miles of rivers and streams and over 180,000 acres of lakes and impoundments in the U.S.

Stick a shovel blade in the stream flowing from a sulfide mine entrance and in just a week or two, it will be gone … dissolved away.

As acid mine drainage pollutes the rivers it kills off life in the water, starting with insects and microscopic life - a chain of death than begins that ends up affecting fish, birds, and predators, eventually leading to us.

In the short term the proposed mine may give a few jobs to Michigan. However, these jobs will only last about 10 years, while the mine pollution will last 2,500, 10,000 or more years.

In a new study by EARTHWORKS and Nunamta Aulukestai (Caretakers of Our Land) it was found that 76 percent of mines studied failed to meet water quality standards that protect against polluting rivers, and groundwater with harmful contaminants, such as lead mercury, arsenic, and cyanide.

The region surrounding the proposed mine is home to many rare and endangered species of plants and animals, and tThe operation of this mine may permanently damage these rare and endangered species. The damage may be caused by acid mine drainage, water pollution from heavy metals, air pollutions and the activity of a heavy industrial site. The McCormack tract is not even one mile south of the proposed site and is home to old-growth forests.

No sulfide mine has ever been operated without causing acid mine drainage and/or toxic heavy metal pollution.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency estimates that the headwaters of 40% of the watersheds in the western US are contaminated by pollution from hardrock mining.

Few activities permanently alter the environment more than mining.

The Eagle Project is different from the Upper Peninsula’s previous mining projects. The metals which will be mined are not a pure metallic copper, gold, or iron oxide. The metals previously mined do not contain sulfur and so did not produce such massive amounts of acid mining drainage.

"Regular mining is like mining the chocolate chips out of a cookie, while sulfide mining is like mining the sugar out of a cookie."

“Today, the Salmon Trout River in the Upper Peninsula is the only place on the U.S. mainland known to have a spawning run of native coaster brook trout. Yet, directly underneath this river, sulfide mining exploration is under way.”

The entire population of the Salmon-Trout coasters is thought to be fewer than 200 fish.

The Salmon Trout River is the fourth most endangered river in the country.

Over the last fifty years people, businesses, and economic activity have moved to areas that are considered high quality living environments, these environments are often located around water. Mining destroys an area’s ability to attract people for its natural beauty, and instead offers only short term, small scale job offers.

Kennecott Mining Company is annually one of the top polluters in the United States as defined by the Environmental Protection Agency.

The state owns much of the land that Kennecott proposes to mine.