PolyMet is not competent to receive sulfide mining permits.

1. It has no mining experience.

2. It does not have the financial capacity to start and develop a copper mine.

3. The present management does not have control of its future.

Why do the Governor, legislators and agencies of the state of Minnesota even consider granting permits to PolyMet? Doesn’t the state of Minnesota have enough stature to deal directly with the controlling company rather than its money-losing surrogate?

Glencore Xstrata plc controls PolyMet. It holds PolyMet’s present and future purse strings. This makes PolyMet’s financial future uncertain. On its own, PolyMet will be hard pressed to even buy one multi-million dollar modern dump truck at the current rate it is burning through its present cash position. Perhaps more importantly, Glencore’s control over PolyMet’s operations calls into question PolyMet’s ability to provide reliable testimony about how mining will be conducted under the required permits.

No other financial source is likely to provide the substantial capital PolyMet needs without Glencore’s permission or guarantee. Glencore owns a significant portion of PolyMet’s common stock, warrants, and debt. It has contracted for the first five years of PolyMet’s production and has representation on PolyMet’s Board of Directors and management.

In reality, it is Glencore that is the beneficiary of the permits, not PolyMet, and therefore Glencore should be the applicant and be subject to legal recourse by the state of Minnesota for any failures to comply with the permits or other violations of law.

The fundamental issue for considering permits should not initially be jobs or environment issues, but the very basics: financial wherewithal, demonstrated success to implement large-scale projects, and the reputation of the applicant.

For those who remember Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale, the little boy spoke out saying the emperor has no clothes. Similarly an omission is now being ignored and disregarded by governing agencies and the public. No one is addressing the obvious and key issue of PolyMet’s lack of clothes, that is to say, its lack of competence or capacity to implement its sought after mining permits.

Gerry Snyder

Ely, Minn.