Metallic Minerals Lease Sale

Results of January 12, 2010 State Metallic Minerals Lease Sale

The bid opening for the Metallic Minerals Lease Sale was conducted January 12, 2010. There were 123 total bids for 112 mining units. Ten mining units received multiple bids (nine mining units received two bids, and one mining unit received three bids.)

Of the 123 bids, 61 were in Aitkin County (14 from HTX Minerals Corp, and 47 from Kennecott Exploration Company), 17 were for Carlton County (3 from HTX Minerals Corp, and 14 from Minerals Processing Corporation), 7 were for Itasca County (all from Lehmann Exploration Management, Inc.), and 38 were for St. Louis County (19 from Duluth Metals Corp, and 19 from Encampment Minerals, Inc.). There were no bids for the mining units offered in Benton, Morrison and Pine Counties.

The high bids covered about 47,061 acres in the lease sale area, including about 24,316 acres in Aitkin County, 4,083 acres in Carlton County, 3,592 acres in Itasca County, and 15,070 acres in St. Louis County. Before issuing a lease, the Department conducts a review of bidders to ensure they are technically and financially capable of meeting the terms of the state lease. Recommendations on issuance of leases will be made to the State Executive Council (which consists of the state's five constitutional officers) at its March 8, 2010 meeting.

A tabulation of the bids and summary statistics of the bids are available here:

• 2010 Bid Information Summary 153 kb

Mining Unit Book for January 12, 2010:

• Lease Sale Map 
• Introduction
• Aitkin County
• Benton County
• Carlton County
• Itasca County
• Morrison County
• Pine County
• St. Louis County

Note: The Division of Lands and Minerals office in Hibbing has maps and reports on Minnesota's mineral resources, as well as drill core and exploration reports available for inspection. To arrange for a time to visit the Hibbing office, please contact Rick Ruhanen at 218-231-8469. We also recommend our public access to minerals data web site: Public Access to Minerals Data web site.