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Ben Seaton is a second-generation Boundary Waters canoe outfitter on Minnesota’s Gunflint Trail.

I am among the fortunate few that live on the Gunflint Trail, north of Grand Marais, and among even fewer that have grown up in this community that winds itself through a narrow corridor within the Boundary Waters.

The Gunflint is a place somewhere between the depths of this wilderness and the precipice of a more developed world, with the play between the human world and nature a fact of life.

I have seen this place change during my life; great wind maelstroms tearing and wildfires blazing, and I have borne witness to the quiet regrowth and return to its familiar balance. These forests and pristine lakes have always been places where I’ve felt at home, and as a second-generation canoe outfitter my opportunity to share these experiences with others has been my greatest joy.

The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness has a place of importance in many hearts, and creates community and drives our economy. Yet, the proposed sulfide mining projects on the edge of the Boundary Waters threatens this way of life.

What price are we willing to pay for a short-term boom?

Established in 1978, the Boundary Waters is the most visited wilderness in our country, renowned for its tranquility, stillness and unrivaled purity. The quiet and beauty of this landscape and its waters draw hundreds of thousands of visitors each year to ply the waters and paddle their way across the multitude of lakes and narrow, winding streams. Clean waters attract fishermen, with the lakes supporting thriving populations of trout and walleye and drawing fishermen from far and wide.

While this place holds peace for so many, it also drives the economy. Fishing alone drives more than $1 billion in revenue for Minnesota each year, with the outdoor industry accounting for 2.7% of our state’s GDP and accounting for the main economic engine of northern Minnesota.

This place sustains both our livelihoods and our regional economy while benefitting all who set foot or launch their canoe here.

The proposed Twin Metals mining project at the headwaters of the Boundary Waters threatens our livelihoods and our regional economy.

Copper-nickel mining relies on extracting minerals contained within sulfide rock, and when exposed to air or water, two things we have here in abundance, the sulfides create sulfuric acid. This puts our waters, even the ground water that so many rely on to drink, in danger of catastrophic poisoning and acidification, and with the importance of our lakes’ cleanliness to the health of our environment and our livelihoods, sulfide mining poses an existential risk to the ecosystem and our way of life.

Considering the significance of the Boundary Waters to our economy, this risk is unacceptable.
Unlike wildfires and blowdowns, sulfide mining is simply preventable, and there is no natural recovery. Copper-nickel sulfide mining is an “un-natural disaster.”

Every sulfide mine irreparably damages the environment. Permanent groundwater contamination and environmental degradation would disrupt the flora, fauna and waterways and leave the Boundary Waters, the Eden that so many visit, damaged beyond the point of return.
Proponents of sulfide mining always return to the same point: jobs.

However, many of the same communities that point to mining as that boon are the same that have been left in the red dust of iron mining.

Harvard University published a peer-reviewed study forecasting the economic impact of mining and its environmental fallout versus that of the affected tourism industry.

Mining falls short in job creation, revenue created, real estate and amenity valuation, and in-migration draw.

Minnesota’s tourism industry however, has grown year after year, with a 2024 valuation of $13.9 billion, double what it was 12 years ago.

Today’s extractive industries – including mining, timber and gravel – sit at $1.2 billion.

I find this quite damning, with the case I have always heard from my pro-mining friends or the talking points legislators have used to deflect when held to the fire, always centering around how much it will help our local economy.

There are many areas of northern Minnesota that are in need of an economic tow-truck, and it hurts when there seems to be no easy way to fix things. I can see that it’s hard to see mining as borrowing from the future when prospects today are already difficult.

Again, Harvard University points out that in every single case of resource extraction on this level, the affected community is always left with poorer long-term outcomes than its neighbors. This type of mineral extraction will not solve any problems, and will only rob us of what brings joy.

So who really benefits?

In short: Antofagasta, the mining conglomerate that created Twin Metals. The company is from Chile, where its human rights and environmental track record garnered the intervention of the Chilean Supreme Court.

It raises questions as to why we should risk our livelihoods and give Minnesota revenue to a corporation that has shown no interest in its own land and people?

Further, once the mine has taken what it came for, the ore would be shipped and sold to China for processing, cutting off any argument that the pro-mining faction has raised regarding “critical minerals” and “national security.”

Antofagasta has made many promises to clean up any environmental harm that this mine would cause, despite not one sulfide mine where any mitigation efforts have succeeded in returning the land and water to its previous purity.

Why should we bet on a horse that we know will bolt in the wrong direction?

What do we value most about the Boundary Waters?

A vast and unspoiled landscape and unstained waters that supports our very existence today and into perpetuity? Or, a brief boom that lines the pockets of others and an everlasting bust that leaves our land and waters marred and ruined?

This wilderness is irreplaceable, and cannot be returned once it is taken from us. Our strongest way forward is through preserving and protecting the gifts of the Boundary Waters for generations to come.

Ben Seaton is a second-generation Boundary Waters canoe outfitter on Minnesota’s Gunflint Trail. Ben is a board member of Save the Boundary Waters and remains committed to defending our nation’s wild places. Every season, his family’s business, Hungry Jack Outfitters, helps thousands of paddlers find their adventure along the pristine waters of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.