US Senate Votes to Reopen Superior National Forest to Critical Mineral Mining

US Superior mining The US Senate has voted 50–49 to overturn a Biden-era ban on mineral exploration across 225,504 acres of the Superior National Forest in northern Minnesota, clearing the path for potential development of one of the most strategically significant untapped copper, nickel, cobalt, and platinum group metal deposits on American soil. If President Trump signs House Joint Resolution 140 into law, it would nullify Public Land Order 7917 — the 20-year leasing moratorium signed in 2023 — and reopen the Duluth Complex to the kind of domestic critical mineral production Washington has b...