Inside the Copperwood Clash: Activist “Power Mapping” Zine Collides with $50M Legislative Push for UP Mine
Executive Summary
A new “power mapping” zine published by Unsalted Counter Info targets stakeholders in Highland Copper’s Copperwood Project near Michigan’s Porcupine Mountains, urging pressure campaigns as state lawmakers consider a $50 million infrastructure grant by late September 2025. The publication escalates reputational, legal, and security risks for companies, local officials, and financiers amid ongoing permitting progress and polarized debate over environmental risk versus regional jobs.
Key Judgments
The Unsalted Counter Info zine materially escalates security and reputational risk for Copperwood stakeholders by consolidating names, roles, and event timelines into a campaign-focused package.
Evidence: The “Power Mapping the Copperwood Mine” zine aggregates company leadership, contractors, investors, and political supporters with contextual narratives intended to mobilize opposition, while highlighting upcoming investor conferences and regional backers.Michigan’s renewed $50 million infrastructure grant push is a near-term flashpoint likely to drive intensified advocacy, media scrutiny, and potential demonstrations on or before late September 2025.
Evidence: Reporting indicates the Legislature may decide by the end of September on a legislative grant to Wakefield Township for roads, grid, and telecom; a separate $50 million SOAR award remains stalled pending legislative action.Operational momentum continues at Copperwood despite funding uncertainty, sustaining the project’s timeline and galvanizing both supporters and opponents.
Evidence: The project received an updated air permit from EGLE in March 2025 and continues detailed engineering and design, with the company signaling a go/no-go decision after March 2026.Environmental-risk narratives—tailings proximity to Lake Superior, extreme weather exceedances, and treaty rights considerations—will remain the opposition’s most resonant arguments with statewide audiences.
Evidence: The zine cites company feasibility documents and external sources to foreground low ore grade, waste volumes, tailings siting, 1-in-1,000-year storm history, and modeled spill travel times to Lake Superior and Presque Isle River, plus 1842 Treaty Territory implications.
Analysis
The Copperwood Project has become a focal point for a broader national tension: how far communities and states should go to underwrite critical-materials mining near sensitive ecosystems in pursuit of industrial policy and local jobs. The publication of “Power Mapping the Copperwood Mine” by Unsalted Counter Info marks a strategic escalation by opponents. Rather than debating the project in abstract terms, the zine consolidates a network map of decision-makers, contractors, financiers, and supportive officials. This turns a complex supply-chain enterprise into a set of discrete pressure points that activists can challenge through coordinated campaigns. While such “power mapping” is a familiar organizing tactic, the packaging of personal and organizational details increases reputational exposure and potential security concerns for targeted individuals and firms. Organizations implicated should review protective monitoring, employee safety guidance, and stakeholder-engagement protocols to minimize harassment risks. (This brief does not reproduce personal contact details.)
Simultaneously, the project’s policy environment is shifting into a decisive phase. As of early September 2025, the Michigan Legislature is weighing a $50 million infrastructure grant to Wakefield Township that, while not direct corporate aid, would materially enable the project by upgrading roads, power, and telecommunications. The separate, previously approved SOAR-fund grant to Highland Copper remains stalled. The Legislature’s expected grant decision by late September creates a clear calendar catalyst for both sides: supporters marshal local unemployment and wage data, while opponents frame the grant as corporate welfare and an environmental bet with asymmetric downside. Expect amplified public hearings, lobbying pushes in Lansing, and potential demonstrations timed to legislative milestones.
Operationally, Highland Copper continues to consolidate permitting and engineering wins. An updated EGLE air permit in March 2025 and ongoing detailed engineering suggest the company is maintaining optionality toward an investment decision after March 2026. This keeps optimism high among local governments and businesses seeking economic diversification beyond tourism, and it sustains momentum in vendor and contractor ecosystems already named by the zine. The company’s public stance that state support “sends an important message to the investment community” implies that even indirect grants could improve the project’s financing optics, while critics argue this socializes risk without guaranteeing long-term benefits.
The environmental case against Copperwood is rhetorically potent and data-heavy. The zine leverages the company’s own feasibility materials to highlight ore grade, tailings volumes, and siting near Lake Superior, then overlays recent extreme-weather patterns that exceed design assumptions. It also invokes the 1842 Treaty Territory and potential impacts on Anishinaabeg fishing rights, which could widen opposition beyond environmental groups to include tribal advocates and civil-rights organizations. If any adverse weather events, spills elsewhere, or unfavorable modeling updates occur during the legislative window, opposition will likely intensify rapidly.
