State taxpayers will spend up to $50 million on the polarizing Copperwood copper mine in the far western Upper Peninsula following a vote Tuesday by the Michigan Strategic Fund.Toronto-based Highland Copper Inc. pitched the project in 2023 as a $425 million mine that will create 380 jobs during its 11-year lifecycle — and one that needed state dollars to be viable.After several attempts to obtain a state subsidy, the company succeeded on Tuesday when the Strategic Fund awarded the company $45 million toward an estimated $129 million in site readiness costs. It awarded another $5 million to the Gogebic County Road Commission to make road updates in Wakefield Township.The funding comes from the controversial — and now-defunded — SOAR (Strategic Operating and Attraction Reserve) Fund. The money had been allocated to the Strategic Fund board in October 2022 and ended up unused. As a result, lawmakers will not have to approve Tuesday’s grant.
The mine project — which would be the first in the Upper Peninsula since 1955 — has been pushed by lawmakers and economic developers, who said recent polling showed that 70% of state residents supported it.The mine is “the most important economic opportunity” for the entire Upper Peninsula, said Marty Fittante, CEO of InvestUP, an economic development group.
