Copper tariff could help proposed Twin Metals mine in Minnesota, owner says

The head of a Chilean mining company that wants to open a copper-nickel mine on the edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness says a new import tax on copper could help the project.

Antofagasta CEO Iván Arriagada told reporters at an event Thursday that a 50% copper tariff announced earlier this week by President Donald Trump could be beneficial to its Twin Metals project, according to Reuters.

Arriagada also added that the company still had years to go before breaking ground and needs “to continue working with a long-term perspective,” the news agency reported.

Twin Metals would mine copper and nickel underground at a site between Babbitt and Ely, and it’s been the most controversial hardrock mine proposal in Minnesota because of the risk that pollution might flow to the Boundary Waters. The project has faced major hurdles like losing its federal mineral leases, though Trump administration officials have said they intend to reinstate them.

The environmental group Save the Boundary Waters took the new tariff as a serious threat. “Broad tariffs on copper, including those from key allies, artificially inflate demand and falsely justify expanding domestic copper mining that would irreparably damage America’s favorite wilderness,” Executive Director Ingrid Lyons wrote in a statement this week.

Due to go into effect Aug. 1, the import fee on copper sent futures for the metal hurtling to a record high on Tuesday. In addition to the latest announcement, Trump has said multiple times on the campaign trail and in office that he intends to reinvigorate mining in northeastern Minnesota.

Copper is an essential metal for green energy technologies and many other everyday applications because it conducts electricity. The United States already mines it domestically and imports it from countries like Canada, Mexico and Chile. But it has never been mined in Minnesota, in part because of concerns about environmental damage.

Chris Berry, an independent minerals analyst based in Washington, D.C., was skeptical that the new levy would speed up the opening of new mines.

“The tariffs don’t address something that has always harmed mines here in the United States, and that is permitting timelines,” Berry said. “It takes 15-plus years to build any kind of a mine in the United States, for a host of reasons.”

The wait has been even longer for NorthMet, another copper mine proposed for Minnesota. The company PolyMet first proposed the project in 2005. Copper would be mined in a massive open pit near Babbitt, and ore processed in a former LTV Steel site in Hoyt Lakes.

Now owned by the partnership NewRange Copper Nickel, NorthMet is still missing key state and federal permits, including a federal wetland permit and a state-issued permit to mine. But it’s still the furthest in the permitting process of three copper or nickel mining proposals that are active in Minnesota.

NewRange spokesman Colin Marsh declined to comment on the new tariff.

NorthMet has been named a federal priority by the Trump administration, which added it to its FAST-41 Transparency list, intended to speed up permitting delays. But it’s still unclear how well that initiative will work, Berry said.

“I’d like to see evidence of it actually bearing fruit before I actually believe it,” he added.

If the tariffs lead to higher copper prices because of a slow increase in domestic production, that would be yet another challenge for Minnesota’s energy sector. It’s already bracing for larger costs to build wind and solar projects after the Republican-led Congress phased out tax credits in the budget passed last week.

Minnesota electric providers must comply with the state’s 2040 carbon-free standard and are planning on new wind and solar to meet those goals and supply power to energy-hungry data centers.

Walker Orenstein of the Minnesota Star Tribune contributed to this story.