Qualla: Flambeau Mine https://qualla.com/flambeau-mine en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:05 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/c/b/p/4/flambeau-mine-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Flambeau Mine https://qualla.com/flambeau-mine Flambeau Mine: Introduction https://qualla.com/flambeau-mine/ Photo credit Wikideas1, CC0. An airborne survey in 1968 detected something valuable beneath the farmland south of Ladysmith, Wisconsin. Exploratory drilling confirmed a copper-gold deposit near the Flambeau River, a massive sulfide body that also held silver. What followed was not a rush to dig but a quarter-century argument about whether to dig at all. The state passed comprehensive mining regulations in 1974. Rusk County denied zoning approval in the mid-1970s. The deposit sat untouched while politicians, environmentalists, and mining executives debated what responsible extraction might look like in a state that valued its rivers and forests. When the Flambeau Mine finally opened in 1993, it was supposed to be the proof that modern mining and environmental stewardship could coexist. The answer turned out to be more complicated than anyone promised.

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]]> Thu, 05 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/c/b/p/4/flambeau-mine-wp/cbp4-flambeau-mine-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Flambeau Mine: Four Years, Three Metals https://qualla.com/flambeau-mine/ Photo credit Chris857, CC BY-SA 3.0. Kennecott Minerals, operating through a subsidiary, ran the Flambeau Mine as an open pit operation from 1993 to 1997. The approach was deliberately scaled back from the original mid-1970s proposal, which had envisioned an open pit followed by underground mining, with ore processi...

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Image: Chris857 | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 05 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/c/b/p/4/flambeau-mine-wp/cbp4-flambeau-mine-four-years-three-metals.mp3 0:06 2 full Flambeau Mine: The Poison in Stream C https://qualla.com/flambeau-mine/ Photo credit Chris857, CC BY-SA 3.0. The reclamation looked good on the surface. Prairie grasses grew where the pit had been. But underground, the chemistry told a different story. Water samples from wells in the former pit showed elevated levels of sulfate, copper, manganese, and iron for several years after 1999. ...

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Image: Chris857 | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 05 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/c/b/p/4/flambeau-mine-wp/cbp4-flambeau-mine-the-poison-in-stream-c.mp3 0:06 3 full Flambeau Mine: Courtroom Reckoning https://qualla.com/flambeau-mine/ Photo credit Chris857, CC BY-SA 3.0. In January 2011, the Wisconsin Resources Protection Council filed a civil lawsuit against the Flambeau Mining Company in U.S. District Court, alleging ongoing violations of the Federal Clean Water Act. The charge was straightforward: the company was discharging copper, zinc, iron...

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Image: Chris857 | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 05 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/c/b/p/4/flambeau-mine-wp/cbp4-flambeau-mine-courtroom-reckoning.mp3 0:06 4 full Flambeau Mine: Prairie Over the Pit https://qualla.com/flambeau-mine/ Photo credit Mattwj2002, CC BY-SA 4.0. Visit the Flambeau Mine site today and you will find grassland where there was once a gaping hole in the earth. Native prairie plantings cover the reclaimed ground, part of a restoration effort that has become something of a local attraction. The Flambeau Mining Company has co-ho...

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Image: Mattwj2002 | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 05 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/c/b/p/4/flambeau-mine-wp/cbp4-flambeau-mine-prairie-over-the-pit.mp3 0:06 5 full