ECONOMICS, REGULATIONS, AND SOCIETAL VALUES: WHAT IS (OR WAS) THE VALUE OF THE CRANDON DEPOSIT, WISCONSIN?

For more than 25 years, a 55-million ton massive sulfide copper-zinc orebody in north-central Wisconsin, the Crandon deposit, has been scrutinized by the public, state agencies, the Wisconsin Legislature, and the media. Averaging about 5% zinc, 1-2% copper, and 0.4% lead with lesser values of gold and silver, the Crandon deposit has been valued by different sources at hundreds of millions to, perhaps, billions of dollars. However, in October 2003, the Sokaogon Chippewa Community and the Forest County Potawatomi purchased the Nicolet Minerals Company, owner of the Crandon deposit and related land holdings, for $16.5 million.

This change in ownership and perceived value is typical of the “Crandon experience.” With the public announcement of its discovery in May 1976 by Exxon Coal & Minerals Company, the Crandon deposit almost overnight became the focus of intense regulatory activity and environmental concern, leading to the development of extensive environmental and related financial requirements for metallic mining activities in Wisconsin. Crandon continued to receive this public scrutiny even as another massive-sulfide deposit, the Flambeau deposit, discovered in 1968, went successfully through the state's permitting process and was actively mined from 1993 until 1997.

A variety of societal forces became a part of the Crandon experience. Changing state environmental regulations created compliance challenges; major modifications of the project design were adopted in response to public perceptions of environmental risk; opposition to the proposed Nicolet Mine was Internet-savvy and actively supported by some legislators; and, the ownership of the Crandon deposit changed four times—from multinational resource corporations to a local logging company to two Native American communities. The interplay of mineral economics, environmental regulations, and the shifting landscape of societal values and perceptions created significant communication challenges and ultimately resulted in an orebody containing hundreds of millions of dollars of metal being valued at only $0.30 per ton of rock.