It’s a lost cause when the environmental groups spend good money for propaganda on TV against metals mining in northern Minnesota, when they should know that national defense and national security trumps their cause.

Right now we are importing these metals at a great cost by doing business with unstable governments. At any time they could stop exporting these minerals to us when we need them the most for our high-tech weaponry and communication systems, satellites, cell phones, and hand held gadgets. This technology is moving so fast, we have to stay ahead of the rest of the world or they’ll leave us behind. We are already trailing other countries in education. Where we were first at one time, now we are 23rd. This does not bode well for our future in the global economy.

We have the metals in our own backyard. As time goes on, we are discovering through exploration, how vast this ore body is. These preservationists are no different than a bunch of spies trying to harm our national security.

China has been sending their people to all countries in Africa, making long-term contracts with them, procuring these minerals and oil developments for their future. Knowing this, how can we not develop our own backyard ore body? This would also employ hundreds of people working these mines and enrich the economy of northern Minnesota. We would all benefit from these developments.

The talk around this area is this mine would be a deep mine, two to three thousand feet. It should have no detrimental effects on the ecology of the Boundary Waters, no more than the Soudan Mine has had on Lake Vermilion. The mine would be deep and dry and in solid rock. It seems to me that processing these minerals would be the hardest part of extracting them.

We put a man on the moon, so why can’t we figure out how to process these metals safely? We Americans are known to solve problems that are important. Ever since the Industrial Revolution we were always first in everything – we still can be.

George Rukavina

Ely, Minn.