Published: February 20, 2024 |

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State regulators have issued draft permits for a mining proposal near the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.

The state Environmental Protection Division announced late Friday afternoon that it had decided to issue draft permits for Alabama-based Twins Pines Minerals. The company is planning a 582-acre demonstration mine about three miles away from the refuge, where it plans to strip mine Trail Ridge for titanium, staurolite, and zircon.

The decision to issue an air quality permit, a permit to use groundwater and a surface mining permit kicks off a new public comment period, with a virtual public hearing planned for 6 p.m. March 5. Written comments can be submitted to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

A recent public comment period on the company’s land use plan attracted 78,632 written comments and 115 oral comments, according to EPD.

The response from environmental groups that fiercely oppose the proposal came quickly Friday. Some said they were still reviewing the drafts but had studied documents submitted earlier to the state.

Bill Sapp, senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, argued the company has failed to prove their proposed mine would not harm the Okefenokee Swamp.

“While this moves Twin Pines one step closer towards its goal to dig for minerals on 8,000 acres along Trail Ridge, these permits are only drafts. The reason Georgia EPD posts draft versions of the permit is because our state leaders give the public a chance to make their voices heard,” Sapp said.

Other opponents of the mining proposal turned to Gov. Brian Kemp to intervene. Josh Marks, who is president of Georgians for the Okefenokee, urged the governor to reverse the decision. 

Steve Ingle, president of Twin Pines Minerals, said the draft permits follow a “thorough evaluation of our application.”

“The exhaustive hydrology, geology, biology, and herpetology studies, as we have said all along, have been validated. We expect stringent government oversight of our mining-to-reclamation project which will be fully protective of the Okefenokee Wildlife Refuge and the region’s environment,” Ingle said.

The project’s supporters argue the project would bring jobs to an area that needs them and say the work can be done without harming the swamp.

A legislative proposal to prohibit any new or expanded mining proposal was endorsed by a little more than half the state House of Representatives, but the bill remains stalled in committee. An attorney for Twin Pines strongly objected to the bill last year.

Source: Georgia Recorder

Twin Pines Minerals has applied for permits for the purpose of extracting titanium and zirconium from a tract of land, that at is closest point is approximately 2.9 miles southeast of the Okefenokee Refuge. However, they will mine only 582 acres, and at any given time excavate in a very small section of the property (1.5 to 2.5 acres) to a maximum depth of 50 feet, advancing 100 feet per day.

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