White Pine Mine may be sold
The White Pine Mine and its surrounding assets are in the process of being sold.
According to their website, Highland Copper Company has tentatively agreed to purchase the old mine along with mineral and surface rights covering more than 27-thousand acres.
Highland is a Canadian Company that explores and develops copper projects. It owns Keweenaw Copper Company, which has been exploring for potential mine sites on the Keweenaw Peninsula for several years.
When the transaction is completed, current owner Copper Range Company will receive three million shares of Highland stock along with an additional amount based on mineable copper found at the site. Highland stock was trading at around 55 American cents per share this morning, making the three million shares worth around one-point-six million dollars. The sale will likely not include the smelting and processing facilities in White Pine, which were sold by Copper Range to the Canadian mining company HudBay in 2006 for around $13 million.
The White Pine Mine is located in Ontonagon County near the east border of the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park. It began production in 1952, and eventually turned out more than four billion pounds of copper. Operations ceased in 1995.