Green Light Wisconsin to Begin Drilling for Copper and Gold Near Medford this Week

Monday, June 16th, 2025 -- 8:00 AM

(Danielle Kaeding, Wisconsin Public Radio) Mining company Green Light Wisconsin said it has notified the state Department of Natural Resources that it plans to begin drilling for copper and gold on U.S. Forest Service land near Medford this week.

According to Danielle Kaeding with the Wisconsin Public Radio, Canadian company GreenLight Metals said in a news release that its Wisconsin subsidiary has contracted with Minnesota-based Taconite Drilling as part of its upcoming plans to explore the Bend deposit in Taylor County.

The deposit is believed to contain more than 4 million tons of copper and gold. The company has said it plans to drill eight holes on six sites spanning less than an acre sometime this summer in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. Drill crews and equipment will begin mobilizing there Monday, June 16 with plans to begin drilling later next week.

“With Taconite engaged and our WDNR notice now filed, we are positioned to launch our maiden drill program at Bend and begin unlocking the potential we see in Wisconsin’s Penokean Volcanic Belt,” GreenLight President and CEO Matt Filgate said in the release.

The announcement comes after a Taylor County judge denied the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa’s request to temporarily halt state approval of the company’s plans to drill.

Green Light said it notified the state of its plans to drill on Tuesday. The company has said about $7.5 million have been invested in exploring the Bend site to date, including more than 50 drill holes.

Green Light is leasing mineral rights owned by the Soo Line Railroad within the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. The Forest Service has also approved the company’s plans, and exploration of the site is expected to last about 10 weeks.

The DNR has previously said it plans to monitor and inspect the site once drilling begins. The Lac du Flambeau tribe is worried that the company’s plans might cause irreparable harm to environmental, cultural and historic sites.

They include wetlands, wild rice beds, endangered species like the northern long-eared bat and cultural sites known as the Big and Little Indian Farms that are linked to historic Indian trails and burial sites.

Other tribes and environmental advocates have expressed concerns about mining sulfide-bearing ore bodies and the potential for acid mine drainage that would contaminate Wisconsin waterways.

Filgate has stressed the need for critical metals to support electrification and the shift away from fossil fuels, even as the President’s administration has cut or frozen billions of dollars for renewable energy and electric vehicle chargers.

At the same time, the President has sought to boost domestic mineral production with a goal of creating jobs and reducing foreign reliance on metals used for EVs and microprocessors.

Metals like gold and copper haven’t been mined in Wisconsin since the Flambeau Mine shut down in 1997. The mine served as a catalyst for the state’s sulfide mining moratorium that was repealed in 2017 under a law passed by the Republican-controlled state Legislature.

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