Michigan pauses $50M investment to bring back copper mining to Upper Peninsula
The mine project, located about five hours west of the Mackinac Bridge near the Wisconsin border, drew significant environmental opposition for its proximity to both Lake Superior and the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park.
But regional and state economic boosters embraced the project as a way to reinvigorate Gogebic County, which has just 14,000 residents and is among the smallest of Michigan’s 83 counties.
The project promises 380 new jobs paying $80,000 to $120,000, along with 300 construction jobs. State projections say it could result in $15 million in annual municipal and state tax revenue.
“We need a win,” Marty Fittante, CEO of InvestUP economic development organization for the Upper Peninsula, told the Michigan Strategic Fund board.
The region was partially built on mining but has suffered as operations closed. It took another blow in 2018 when the state closed the Ojibway Correctional Facility, eliminating about 200 jobs.
Over 50 years, the area’s school-aged population has dropped by 70 percent, Fittante said. The county’s median age, 50, is 10 years older than that of the state, and its median income is $38,625, compared to $68,000 for the state.
“The demographics of what we’re facing in this region in particular are not sustainable,” Fittante said.
The $50 million state request for Copperwood was made under the Strategic Site Readiness Program, designed to use state funds to make large parcels of land development-ready.
Separately, the economic development board on Tuesday approved $87.5 million in taxpayer money for site work on 18 potential development sites across the state.
The Strategic Site Readiness Program originated as a portion of the $2 billion large-scale incentive program launched in 2021. That program, known as the Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve (SOAR) fund, was intended to allow the state to make large investments in what it called transformational projects.
SOAR has since been rebranded as the Make It in Michigan fund, as the Legislature weighs reforms to give fewer awards directly to companies and to seek broader community benefits for investments using public economic development funds.
State officials already have granted permits for the 505-acre Copperwood Mine. The company had sought the state investment to help cover $145 million in costs for new roads, water lines, utilities and other infrastructure.
