POM:CC - EPA recommends against permit reissue for $1B PolyMet mine

PolyMet Mining (NYSE:PLM) -2.6% in early trading Friday after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommended the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers should not re-issue a key water-related permit for its NorthMet copper-nickel project in Minnesota. The EPA said this week the $1B NorthMet project risked increasing levels of mercury and other pollutants in the St. Louis River downstream from the proposed mine. "As the NorthMet project is currently designed, there are no conditions that EPA can provide to the Corps that would ensure that the discharges from the CWA Section 404 permitted activities would comply with the Fond du Lac Band's water quality requirements for its waters," the EPA said. The Army Corps will use the recommendation to help decide whether to reinstate the wetlands permit, one of three critical PolyMet (PLM) permits that have been suspended. "The value in PolyMet is if they can gain fully permitting - if

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EPA recommends against permit reissue for $1B PolyMet mine