Protect the Porkies, Stand with Superior

Join the fight against Canadian mining next to Lake Superior and the Porcupine Mountains

Protect the Porkies, Stand with Superior

Join the fight against Canadian mining next to Lake Superior and the Porcupine Mountains

Protect the Porkies is a collective of concerned citizens from around the Upper Peninsula, the great state of Michigan, and beyond, who are uniting to resist the development of Copperwood, an inexperienced Canadian company's proposal to mine next to and underneath Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park and store 40+ million tons of waste in unprecedented proximity to Lake Superior, all for the sake of a few boom-and-bust jobs and copper to be shipped out of country.

Protect the Porkies is just the messenger. Now that you've got the message, what will YOU do to help?

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At the Heart of a Treasured Area

What's at Stake

Lake Superior / Gichigami

Lake Superior is, by surface area, the largest source of surface freshwater on Earth. Known as the sacred Gichigami to the Anishinaabe Nation, Superior is the wildest of all Great Lakes and still clean enough many drink its waters unfiltered.

At a time when our planet is growing warmer and drier, and armed conflicts are being fought and exacerbated over access to freshwater, does it really make sense to endanger a priceless entity of international import?

The closest sulfide waste facility in history?

With a copper purity of 1.45%, 98.55% of all extracted material would be waste, containing mercury, arsenic, cadmium, and led, comprising 40+ million tons in total, to be stored forever on downward-sloping topography, in unprecedented proximity to Lake Superior.

A mining engineer with the U.S. Forest Service says such facilities "may require care and maintenance exceeding 1,000 years."

Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park

Ranked both as Michigan's favorite State Park and among the most beautiful in the entire country, the Porcupine Mountains are both a sensitive and a world-renowned outdoor recreation destination.

Set aside specifically to protect from industrial interests, the Porkies contain the largest remaining tract of original, old growth forest in mainland Michigan, including the largest population of old growth eastern hemlocks in the nation.

Mining underneath the Park?

The proposed Copperwood mine site would be immediately adjacent to the State Park. In addition to mining next to the State Park, meeting notes with the DNR reveal that they would seek to drill directly beneath Park property.

A mine exhaust vent a mere 150 feet from the Park would spew particulate matter containing benzene, formaldehyde, arsenic, cobalt, and more, and the 323-acre waste basin would be visible from the Lake of the Clouds Overlook, as well as from Copper Peak and the North Country Trail (see comment 35).

The North Country Trail

Longest of all national hiking trails, the NCT spans nearly 5,000 miles from North Dakota to Vermont. It is a cornerstone of this region's national heritage, passing from the Black River through the Ottawa National Forest and on into the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness.

New scenic vistas incoming?

The 323-acre mine waste basin would be 244 football fields in area and higher than the Statue of Liberty from toes to torch tip. In addition to being visible from space, it would be easily perceptible from the North Country Trail, a mere 500 feet away, along with other influences such as rock grinding, conveyance systems, exhaust vents, heavy machinery, non-stop industrial traffic, subterranean blasting, and more.

And the mine is just the start...

Before reaching construction, the project requires the installation of cell towers, a 25-mile power grid rollout, and upgrading humble County Road 519 into a heavy industrial speedway.

Cell towers at a place we come to get a break from our devices? Mining traffic where we come to slow down and listen to soothing birdsong and murmuring brooks? Long after the mine boards up shop in 11 years, this "preliminary infrastructure" will remain, opening the floodgates to ongoing development which will forever change the character of a wild and cherished region.

Habitat Fragmentation

Although based on private property, mining influences from air and water contamination, noise and light pollution, subterranean blasting, and mining traffic could radiate for miles beyond artificial map lines. Additionally, habitat destruction and physical structures (like the 323-acre waste basin) would create barriers to migration. All of these factors — along with proposed cell towers, power grid expansion, and industrial road upgrades — would disrupt the interconnectivity between surrounding areas and degrade the ecological vitality of the Porcupine Mountains, the Black River, the North Country Trail, and beyond.

Again we must ask: Really?

There is no ideal place for an operation as disruptive as a mine, but there are certainly worse places, and the juncture of a famed national hiking trail, a world-renowned old growth wilderness, and a freshwater sea has got to be the very bottom of the list.

The term in the literature for an area to be degraded for large-scale industrial activity a Sacrifice Zone. Is this truly an area we want to sacrifice?

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And if the waste dam ruptures?

Mine waste surging into Lake Superior and the State Park

A 2024 model by the Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission predicts that, in the event of a rupture at Copperwood's mine waste facility (the closest in history to Lake Superior), a flood of tailings over ten meters in depth could surge into both Lake Superior and the State Park.

The mining company disputes the quantity of waste discharge predicted by the model. In the end, no models are ever completely accurate (that's what makes them models, but we must ask: is there any quantity of waste flowing into Lake Superior which should be tolerated for the sake of short-term, boom-and-bust jobs and copper shipped out of country?

Read the full GLIFWC report here.

Learn more about the copperwood waste dam

This is what it looks like when a tailings dam breaks

Although rare, tailings dams have ruptured all over the world, even in so-called "First World" nations, even at state-of-the-art facilities designed and maintained by experts at the tops of the field.

What do all ruptures have in common? None of them were predicted.

Michigan is not prepared

A report from the Association of State Dam Safety Officials reveals that Michigan's Dam Safety Program is "extremely understaffed to perform the mission of dam safety as required by rules, legislation, and best practice" (page 6).

What happens when another 1000-year storm hits?

Since the mine is projected to run only 10.7 years, the company has designed all infrastructure — including the waste dam — to anticipate 1-in-100 year storm events, despite the fact that there have been two 1-in-1000 year storm events in the immediate area in just the last decade (1,2), Clearly, "thousand-year storms" need to be renamed, and assuming that another will not happen during the mine life is the definition of a gamble.

The mining company claims the waste basin would withstand such a storm, but many claims are made to get a project funded and launched, and none of the tailings dam ruptures in history were ever predicted in advance. Considering the waste dam's unprecedented proximity to both Lake Superior and Porcupine Mountains State Park, is it really worth the risk?

But what are we getting in return?

Copper shipped out of country

Copperwood's concentrate would be shipped to Canada for further refinement (page 19-3) There are currently no contracts in place to see it return to Michigan or even the United States.

No undersupply of mined copper

Although the U.S. Geological Survey now categorizes copper as a "critical mineral" due to supply chain vulnerability, an important nuance that Copperwood proponents fail to mention is that this only applies to refined copper, meaning copper which has passed through all stages of processing to reach 100% purity. Copperwood's ore will be processed in Canada, thus producing a critical mineral for another country.

Meanwhile, mined copper — what will be produced at Copperwood — is still listed at a negative risk (page 37), meaning no supply chain vulnerability, and thus no need to develop widely opposed new mines at abominable locations.

It's also worth noting that copper is infinitely recyclable, and yet less than half is currently being recycled. Metal recycling comes with its own contamination harms, but recovery options should be explored before inflicting new habitat damage at sensitive locations.

Questionable economic gains

The most comprehensive study ever conducted reveals that mines in rural communities led to positive long-term outcomes in just 29% of cases, and most of those came from before 1982.

The study concludes: "To the extent to which past experience is to be our guide, there is surprisingly little evidence that mining will bring about economic good times, while there is a good deal of evidence for expecting just the opposite."

Rapidly diminishing returns

The research of Harvard Economist James Stock, former advisor to President Obama, concludes that, due to disruptions to amenity and outdoor recreation industries, any employment and income benefits of copper mining are short-lived compared to long-term economic decline.

Just think about it: if mining was so good for the economy, then the Upper Peninsula should be the richest place in the country. Instead, it's one of the most impoverished, because the bust is always bigger and longer than the boom.

Professor Stock concludes, "In 89% of cases copper mining ends up being a negative for jobs and incomes."

Short-term boom-and-bust jobs, many for non-residents

The text of the proposed Michigan grant to the mining company— three times rejected by the Michigan legislature due to pushback from around the state and nation — defines a "new job" as needing to last for only six months, with many positions going to specialized non-residents.

The text also states that the company hopes to synchronize with the closure of Eagle Mine in Marquette County in order to "retain the talent pool." Is lateral job transfer from another county the same as job creation?

The human toll

Boom-and-bust economics is not unlike the fleeting kick of a drug high followed by a long-lasting crash, with chronic dependence leading to depleted economic foundations and decreased living standards for communities.

Unfortunately, this is more than an analogy: mining workers show the highest rates of alcoholism and opiate overdose of any industry, a tragedy which continues long after the mine boards up shop.

learn more

Combatting false narratives

We are told ad nauseam that "the Western UP's economy needs mining," but the facts tell a different story.

A 2013 study entitled, "The Economic Implications of Renewed Copper Mining in the Western Upper Peninsula," reveals that the Western UP's per capita income is growing faster than the rest of Michigan and nearly on par with the national average (left) despite the loss of thousands of mining jobs in the region — or perhaps because of it (below).

They secret they want to hide

The secret that mining proponents and their political allies don't want you to know is that we don't need them.

The chart to the right shows that as jobs have declined in "export sectors" (industries like mining which ship wealth out of the area), they have been more than replaced by "locally-oriented" sectors which keeps the wealth where it belongs: with the local people.

All levels of society, from regular folks to elected officials, should be doing what we can to encourage this positive trend, in which our economy is not captive to outside "saviors" with little vested interest in the area, but instead is gardened slowly and sustainably for the benefit of all.

Read the Report

Current Status of the Proposed Copperwood Mine

Real-world damage for a speculative project

Despite having less than $30 million cash-on-hand for a project requiring $450 million — and despite lacking the power grid, cell towers, heavy industrial roads, and other preliminary infrastructure to begin operations — this entirely speculative venture has already inflicted lasting, real-world damage: dozens of acres of forest have been clear cut, multiple streams have been forever rerouted, and over 60 acres of wetlands have been destroyed, among the largest totals in Michigan permitting history.

Permits continue to be issued

Despite massive opposition from around Michigan and beyond, despite lacking $400+ million in startup capital and important preliminary infrastructure, Michigan's environmental regulatory agency EGLE continues to issue major and minor permits for the Copperwood Project, allowing for the destruction of wetlands, streams, and forest.

But contrary to the company's claim of being "fully permitted," key permits for the Tailings Disposal Facility have not yet been acquired, and their wastewater discharge permit is currently expired and under consideration for renewal.

Join us in challenging permits

But start-up capital is draining fast

Although the price of copper is on the rise, the Copperwood Project continues to struggle to raise funds. After dwindling to just $8 million in the bank by November 2025, the mining company sold off their remaining shares of the proposed White Pine North mine for a net gain of $17 million, bringing their total in liquid capital to $25 million (as of January 2026). This may be sufficient to keep the Copperwood Project on life support for a year or two, but now that their secondary White Pine North assets have been exhausted, the company must secure a significant injection of outside capital or be forced to close operations.

Thus, the next 1-2 years are crucial in escalating resistance to dissuade investors and push the project into dormancy.

People power defeats $50 million Michigan funding — three times!

In 2024 and 2025 the State of Michigan was considering using taxpayer dollars to advance the controversial Copperwood Mine, by allocating $50 million for the rollout of cell towers, heavy industrial roads, and the power grid right in the buffer zone of mainland Michigan's largest and most beloved old growth wilderness area.

Protect the Porkies led a coordinate campaign consisting of 100+ organizations and many thousands of normal folks, all uniting to communicate firmly to Michigan lawmakers that we would not stand for such a gross misuse of taxpayer dollars. And the result? The funding proposal was defeated not once, not twice, but THREE TIMES!

July 2024 | December 2024 | October 2025

Frequently Asked Questions

Please reach us at protecttheporkies@gmail.com if you cannot find an answer to your question.

But don't we need copper?

Even if we accept the profit-driven projections of some urgent need for copper, any discussion of nuance soon dismantles the case for this specific mine:

Although copper was recently listed by the U.S. Geological Survey as a "critical mineral" — meaning supply chain vulnerabilities should prioritize securing the metal — the agency's report clarifies that in fact it is only refined copper which is scarce, due to a shortage of processing plants in the United States. Meanwhile, raw mined copper is still listed at negative risk. Thus, while a case could be made for establishing new refineries in the United States, there is no case to be made for new mines, especially those opposed by tens of thousands of people due to their proximity to sensitive ecological locations and cherished outdoor recreation destinations.
Plus, Copperwood's copper would be shipped to Canada for processing, so there is no guarantee that it will supplement Michigan's or even the USA's supply. With no contracts in place securing the return of the refined copper, the product would presumably enter the international market. So operations at Copperwood would contribute to the production of a critical mineral in possession of another country.

But now let's go a bit deeper:

In fact, except for a infinitesimal amount as a dietary mineral, humans do not "need" copper any more than we need gold, platinum, or any other metal. When people say that "we need copper," what they actually mean is "technology needs copper," and because the development and proliferation of technologies is a highly profitable enterprise, narratives are crafted to foment urgency for a mineral, which then attract investment to projects regardless of whether or not those speculative narratives are actually true.

Meanwhile, the reasons we're told we "need" copper shift according to the winds of politics. When Democrats are in the ascendant, we're told we need copper for alternate energy technologies like solar panels, wind turbines, and electric vehicles. But when Republicans are in power, we're told to forget about all of that— now we need copper for national security stockpiling! And proponents on both sides of the aisle have endorsed the rollout of artificial intelligence data centers, a highly dubious quest in which the support of industry and political elites is at clear odds with massive resistance from regular people.

Since the justification for increased copper production is ever-shifting depending on who's holding the pen, the only clear takeaway is this: it is not normal people like you and I who have a dire need for copper, but the rather the machines themselves and the industry leaders whose fortunes are on the line.

Is technological "progress" actually contributing to human happiness? Don't the documented increases in depression, substance abuse, and suicide suggest that if there is a correlation, it's a negative one? And so perhaps more technology is the last thing we truly "need."

Conclusion: Even if it can be said that we need copper, there's no proof that Michigan or the United States will be getting it from Copperwood. And even if the copper did contribute to domestic supply, would it justify the storage of 40+ million tons of mine waste next to Lake Superior and major disruptions to one of the wildest and most beloved places in Michigan?

Isn't it better to source our minerals domestically than in foreign countries?

When the question is posed, "Is it better to base extractive operations domestically or internationally?" our campaign suggests that this Coke / Pepsi argument leaves out a far more important question: "Isn't it better to reduce extraction altogether?"

The time is long overdue for a comprehensive, adult conversation about ways to scale back extractive operations, both through decreased consumption and increased cycling of existing materials.

Of course, we acknowledge that rethinking our civilization's unquestioned addiction to technological "progress" is a more profound and longer-scale undertaking. So if for the sake of argument we accept the premise that extraction will continue into the foreseeable future, we would acknowledge that domestic sites are usually preferable to foreign locations, due to decreased distance of transportation and decreased risk of conflict. But in the case of Copperwood, it's a moot point, because the copper in question will be shipped to Canada for finalized processing, and thus domestic extraction does not equate with domestic supply.

What about jobs and the economy?

Please consult the section above, "What are we getting in return?" for research on the negative impacts of mining upon rural economies.

But without needing to do any research, first consult your common sense: if mining is so good for the economy, then why isn't the Upper Peninsula one of the wealthiest places in the country? Along with West Virginia, right? Because mining ventures are not just boom, they're also BUST, and over the long term the economic decline typically outweighs any short-term job growth.

But when it comes to Copperwood's jobs, let's take a look:

In 2018, the company projected 250 direct mining jobs.
Then in 2023, shortly before requesting $50 million from the State of Michigan, they suddenly began projecting 380.

How did they arrive at this higher number? We've been given no explanation, but it's clear that entirely speculative values are easy to tweak simply by altering variables in computer models, so any projections should be taken with a grain of salt.

And what about the quality and stability of those 250 to 380 mining jobs?

Well, the text of the thrice-rejected Michigan grant (page 60-61) says that a "new job" would only need to last for six months — a very specific number, likely related to the fact that many positions will be six-month contracts catered towards mobile workers coming in from other extractive operations around the region.

The text also states that an undefined percentage of positions will go to specialized non-residents. This likely includes the highest paying positions. Will local people be eligible for such jobs? Unless they just so happen to already have many years of training, it's highly unlikely.

Finally, let's recall that there is no amount of jobs that justifies a bad idea, and all of the evidence should lead you to conclude that Copperwood is a bad idea if there ever was one. Wars create vast numbers of jobs, but we would never justify a war on this basis alone, would we? Instead, we expect our leaders to look at the nuances of each specific case to determine whether such a destructive undertaking is truly necessary, basing their decision on higher values like morality, ethics, and the long-term health of an area, and not on something as trivial as short-term job growth.

If the project complies with regulations, then why worry?

The mining company has twice been documented performing unpermitted activities, once in 2018 and again in 2025. The first time, they were fined $25,000.

But let's assume the project complies all of its permits. Here's what we'll be getting:

a 300+ acre mine waste basin, in unprecedented proximity to Lake Superior, forever visible from the North Country Trail, Copper Peak, and the Lake of the Clouds Overlook
hundreds of acres of forest clearcut, streams forever rerouted, and 60+ acres of wetlands destroyed (much of this has already occurred)
subterranean blasting, heavy industrial traffic, rock grinding, sewage lagoons, exhaust towers, 24-hour light pollution, and much more, right next door to the North Country Trail and Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park
power grid, cell towers, and heavy industry roads rolled out into a pristine area, which will lay the foundation for ongoing development long after Copperwood boards up shop in 10.7 years

Folks, there is simply no amount of paperwork which will turn this into a good idea.

Are you opposed to all mines, or just Copperwood?

The coalition opposing Copperwood's development includes experienced mining engineers who have worked all over the world; it includes present employees of operating mines, and former employees who worked for decades at past mines, such as White Pine; and it includes the children and grandchildren of miners. Many of these folks, while supportive of most other mining operations, take the common sense perspective that this specific mine is simply too close to Lake Superior, too close to Porcupine Mountains State Park, with too little to be gained.

Our campaign is a decentralized movement consisting of dozens of organizations and tens of thousands of individuals. As such, we make no attempt to speak for everyone by taking a position on other mines beyond Copperwood. But we do stand in solidarity with other campaigns like our own, fighting for a healthy ecology and a truly sustainable economy.

How can I stay in the loop?

Please sign up for our email list (at the top of the page) and be sure to follow us on social media.

How can I help?

You'll find the current action prompts at our Take Action page.

Protect the Porkies, Stand with Superior

Protect the Porkies, Stand with Superior

At the Heart of a Treasured Area

Is this really a good place for a mine?