MADISON, Wis. (Wheeler News Service) Gogebic Taconite has made it official. The company withdrew its pre-application notice to the state for a permit to build its now-scrapped iron ore mine in Ashland and Iron counties.
The state D-N-R said today that the land around the former mining project will be re-opened to the public. About 35-hundred acres throughout the site had been open under the state’s managed forest program. But that was before a vandalism incident spurred a state lawmaker to close all public access to the entire mining site. Deer hunters objected, and a compromise bill was signed to prohibit public access only around mining equipment and special mining roads throughout the site.
Gogebic Taconite said a few weeks ago that excess wetlands did not make the project feasible, and it was closing its office in Hurley.
