Mining Update | Exploration in Oneida County, Wolf River Water Walk
Here we go again! Mining interests continue to pursue potential projects in Wisconsin. A new company, Badger Minerals, applied for an exploration license for a known mineral deposit in Oneida County from the DNR in January. While Badger Minerals is “new,” the name behind the company—Tom Quigley—is not.
Mr. Quigley is a geologist and former vice-president of exploration and senior technical advisor at Aquila Resources–the company behind the proposed Back 40 Mine project in Michigan near the Menominee River. (See the summary below for details about Badger Minerals’ plans.)
We have been thrilled to see an instant response to oppose the exploration proposal. The Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin and The Sokaogon Chippewa Community, Mole Lake Band of Lake Superior Chippewa have a lot of experience with mining proposals. The tribes, along with local residents and groups have been working on resolutions against mining at this site. On March 8th the tribal community led 200 people on the Wolf River Water Walk to show opposition to mining in this highly sensitive area. Learn more and get involved by going to the Protect the Wolf River Facebook Page.
We will share more information as the mining exploration in Oneida County unfolds. For mining-related questions, please contact me, Allison Werner, by email at [email protected].
Summary
The exploration is proposed for a previously explored site in Oneida County. The DNR’s summary of the location is:
“The Shoepke site was previously explored in the late 1970’s by Noranda, Inc and is located in the town of Shoepke in southeast Oneida County. Badger Minerals, LLC (a subsidiary of Can-American Minerals, Inc of Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada) has planned exploration activities for February and March, 2020 to evaluate the mineral potential of the area and was issued a metallic mineral exploration license on February 11, 2020. The three planned drilling sites are located on private parcels owned by Badger Minerals and Heartwood Forestland Group. Exploration drilling will include up to 10 bore holes totaling a maximum of 4,000 linear feet of borehole including rock core samples.”
While Badger Minerals is planning to conduct exploration drilling in March, they still need a few state and local permits. The DNR has been posting information about this site on their website.
Below are links to the documents the DNR has posted to date.
1/27: Badger Minerals Exploration Application
1/27: Badger Minerals Notice of Intent to Drill
2/7: Notice of Intent to Drill (Lists permits that may be required of Badger Minerals)
2/10: Exploration license issued by DNR to Badger Minerals