Minnesota possesses substantial mineral resources, and its northern regions have sustained industrial extraction activities for over a century. Iron ore mining has historically dominated the landscape, while recent decades have witnessed contentious proposals for copper, nickel, and precious metal extraction near environmentally sensitive areas including the Boundary Waters. Currently, a new extractive initiative is emerging: manganese mining in the Brainerd Lakes region—a development that, like its predecessors, faces considerable community opposition.

North Star Manganese has conducted extensive subsurface exploration near Emily, a small community in the area. Over a five-year period, geologists have drilled more than twenty holes hundreds of feet deep and systematically mapped the underground mineral deposit. The company asserts that preliminary findings indicate exceptional viability. According to their assessment released in August, the deposit represents North America’s highest-grade manganese reserve and could support underground mining operations spanning more than two decades with employment for approximately one hundred workers.

The strategic importance of manganese has grown substantially in recent years. This metal serves as an essential component in battery production for numerous applications—electric vehicles, bicycles, boats, buses, and consumer electronics including power tools, leaf blowers, and vacuums. Notably, no active manganese mining operations currently exist anywhere within the United States, creating a significant supply gap.

Company founder Rick Sandri characterizes the exploration phase as having progressed substantially: “We have graduated from kindergarten in the sense that we have now collected enough information to absolutely justify the fact that we have a project worth spending more money to collect more data on.”

However, residents express deep concern about proximity to their community. Mark Rossi, a Ruth Lake resident living approximately two miles from the proposed site, conveyed his anxiety to city council members: “It scares the bejeebers out of me. It’s a beautiful spot, and I want to make sure that it maintains its pristine nature.”

The Cuyuna Range, situated east of Brainerd, historically supplied manganese alongside iron ore until the early 1980s. A town named Manganese once existed in Crow Wing County but has long been abandoned. During the 1950s, U.S. Steel considered developing an open-pit operation in the Emily area but ultimately declined, instead developing taconite facilities on the Mesabi Range.

Approximately fifteen years ago, Crow Wing Power, a local electric cooperative, acquired mining rights. A subsidiary invested over twenty million dollars in an experimental high-pressure water injection technique to fracture and extract manganese. This venture failed prominently, creating lasting skepticism among residents toward future mining proposals.

North Star Manganese, established in 2020, advocates for a conventional underground mining approach, utilizing Crow Wing Power’s former processing facility. Drill cores extracted from hundreds of feet below the surface reveal jet-black rock containing manganese concentrations exceeding forty-eight percent by weight—exceptionally high-grade material. The company has invested more than ten million dollars in exploration and geological assessment.

Sandri projects the capacity to extract four hundred thousand tons of ore annually for over twenty years. As an underground operation, the surface footprint would approximate a Costco store with parking, according to company descriptions. Electric Metals, the parent company headed by CEO Brian Savage, estimates total investment exceeding six hundred million dollars. Extracted ore would be transported by truck to chemical processing facilities at locations still under evaluation.

The absence of domestic manganese mining and escalating demand for lithium-ion batteries drive corporate optimism. Savage emphasizes broad applications: “It’s not just electric cars, but it’s buses, trucks, trains, planes, power tools, everything.”

Emily’s economy centers entirely on recreation and tourism supported by numerous lakes throughout the region. Unlike controversial copper-nickel proposals elsewhere in Minnesota, manganese extraction does not pose identical acid mine drainage risks. However, manganese presents distinct concerns: as a potent neurotoxin, elevated water concentrations threaten health, particularly affecting children. Local residents worry substantially about potential contamination of drinking water supplies.

Groundwater in the area naturally contains elevated manganese levels. The aquifer overlays the mineral deposit, necessitating penetration to access mining sites. Dan Brennan, an Emily city council member and co-founder of the Emily Mine Information Group established in 2021, emphasized this vulnerability: “Our aquifer overlays that deposit. They have to penetrate that to get to the mine deposit. Can they do that safely?”

Past experiences fueled distrust. Council members reported that Crow Wing Power broke promises regarding water testing, and residents documented manganese spikes in well water following earlier activities. Gary Hanson, another council member, acknowledged: “There was a lot of trouble in the past with wells being contaminated. To make promises that weren’t kept, I can understand why the public’s upset.”

Mayor Tracy Jones remains undecided, acknowledging that potential royalties could benefit municipal infrastructure while expressing uncertainty whether benefits justify risks. North Star officials recognize substantial trust-building remains necessary before proceeding. The company must complete additional environmental and geological studies and feasibility assessments before submitting mine plans to state regulators, triggering mandatory environmental impact reviews and lengthy permitting processes.

Proposed Underground Manganese Mine in Emily, Minnesota Sparks Both Opportunity and Alarm

Emily, Minnesota—When North Star Manganese chief executive Rick Sandri publicly declared late last month that a newly mapped underground ore body beneath this lake-country town could be mined profitably, the project vaulted from exploratory curiosity to looming reality, promising a $600 million investment, 100 union jobs, and a domestic source of a metal critical to electric-vehicle batteries. The announcement prompted many locals to ask whether the payoff is worth the risk.

Within days of Sandri’s presentation, Emily’s 800 residents packed city-hall meetings to weigh in. Supporters pointed to the company’s study showing one of North America’s highest-grade manganese deposits; opponents warned that drilling through the community’s sole aquifer could taint wells with a neurotoxic element already naturally elevated in the region’s groundwater. Their arguments preview a regulatory and political battle likely to shape the region’s economic and environmental future.

Emily sits in Crow Wing County on Minnesota’s historic Cuyuna Range, where iron and trace manganese were once mined in open pits. Today the town’s economy revolves around fishing resorts, ATV trails, and vacation cabins that draw thousands each summer. But the global scramble for battery metals has made manganese newly strategic: the United States currently imports every pound it consumes, even as automakers race to ramp up electric-vehicle production.

Sandri’s viability claim

On November 22, 2025, Sandri told Iron Range civic leaders that fresh drilling data and a preliminary economic assessment show the Emily deposit can sustain more than two decades of underground production at roughly 400,000 tons of ore annually, generating robust cash flow even after reclaiming the site and treating water, according to Iron Range Today. The company says cores pulled from 600 feet below ground average 48 percent manganese by weight—multiple times richer than most global projects—and that the surface footprint could be limited to a facility about the size of a Costco and parking lot.

North Star Manganese, formed in 2020, has already spent more than $10 million on exploration and plans to reuse the processing plant built by local utility Crow Wing Power for a failed in-situ experiment fifteen years ago. Parent company Electric Metals pegs total capital costs at more than $600 million, covering an underground ramp, ventilation shafts, and trucking ore to an off-site chemical refinery still to be chosen.

Why supporters see an opening

Proponents argue the mine could make Emily synonymous with the transition to clean energy. Manganese stabilizes the chemistry of lithium-ion batteries found in cars, buses, bikes, boats, and cordless tools. With no active U.S. manganese mines, domestic manufacturers rely on imports from South Africa, Australia, and China, leaving supply chains exposed to shipping disruptions and geopolitical tensions. “It’s not just about electric cars, but buses, trucks, trains, planes, power tools, everything,” Electric Metals CEO Brian Savage has said.

Union leaders and county commissioners also point to the potential payroll—about 100 direct jobs averaging $90,000 a year in wages and benefits—and to royalties that could fund roads, sewers, and broadband in a region where median household income lags the state average.

Deep well of mistrust

Yet Emily’s elected officials remember earlier promises. In the late 2000s, Crow Wing Power drilled boreholes and blasted water into the ore body in an attempt to dissolve manganese for extraction. The pilot left some residents reporting brown tap water and manganese spikes in private wells; critics say subsequent monitoring was sporadic. “There was a lot of trouble in the past with wells being contaminated,” council member Gary Hanson recalled during a recent meeting. “To make promises that weren’t kept, I can understand why the public’s upset.”

Emily’s aquifer, the town’s sole source of drinking water, lies directly above the ore. To reach the deposit, miners would have to sink shafts through that groundwater layer, seal the rock, and pump water out continuously. The company insists modern grouting and water-treatment plants can prevent contamination, but skeptics note that elevated manganese is a known neurotoxin for infants and can cause learning and behavioral problems.

Residents speak up

On December 1, 2025, more than 200 people filled folding chairs at the community center to question Sandri and state officials, as reported by LPTV. Ruth Lake homeowner Mark Rossi, who lives two miles from the proposed head frame, said the prospect “scares the bejeebers out of me. It’s a beautiful spot, and I want to make sure it stays pristine.” Dan Brennan, a council member who co-founded the Emily Mine Information Group in 2021, pressed the company to explain how it would monitor every private well—some deeper than 300 feet—in a township dotted with seasonal cabins.

Mayor Tracy Jones has not taken a position. She acknowledges that royalty checks could help pay for road repairs and a new water tower, but adds: “I can’t tell you today that the benefits outweigh the risks.”

Regulatory road ahead

Before any ground is broken, North Star must submit a detailed mine plan to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. That filing will trigger an Environmental Impact Statement, public-comment periods, and water-quality permits from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Even if the company moves quickly, state officials say a final decision is likely years away.

In the meantime, lawmakers and advocacy groups are watching closely. Minnesota recently tightened its drinking-water standard for manganese to 100 micrograms per liter for infants and 300 micrograms for adults. Environmental attorneys argue the Emily project would set a precedent for how the state balances critical-mineral demand with its reputation for clean lakes.

Lessons from other mineral fights

The debate echoes earlier battles over copper-nickel projects near the Boundary Waters and the Mesabi Range. In those cases, concerns centered on sulfuric-acid drainage. Manganese does not create the same acidic runoff, but its solubility in oxygen-free water makes it hard to capture once it enters an aquifer. University of Minnesota researchers have warned that even small leaks could migrate undetected for years.

Industry analysts note that global manganese supply is ample at the moment, but classify high-purity material used in batteries as a potential bottleneck by 2030. If Emily proceeds, it could position the United States as an exporter of refined manganese sulfate rather than a buyer. However, market volatility poses another layer of uncertainty; the last time manganese prices crashed, U.S. Steel canceled plans for an open-pit mine in the same district in the 1950s.

What happens next

North Star executives say they will drill several additional exploration holes this winter and release a feasibility study in 2026. The company has pledged to install monitoring wells, publish water-quality data online, and set aside funds for reclamation. Opponents are organizing fundraising drives for independent hydrogeological reviews and have retained an environmental law firm that previously fought copper-nickel permits.

For now, the proposal leaves Emily at a crossroads. A mine could bring year-round paychecks to a tourism-based town where winter work is scarce, but also introduce heavy trucks, blasting vibrations, and chemical storage yards to a postcard landscape of birch forests and kettle lakes. “We’ve graduated from kindergarten,” Sandri quipped about the project’s data gathering. Many of his prospective neighbors remain unconvinced that what comes next will be easier.

Sources

• https://ironrangetoday.com/2025/11/22/potential-manganese-mine-in-emily-is-financially-viable-study-says/
• https://lptv.org/city-of-emily-hears-residents-concerns-over-potential-manganese-mine/