The Republic Mine has lain dormant since 1982. There are still resources there, and they just need to be shipped out. To do that, Republic and Humboldt townships are working together to reactivate an old rail corridor.
"That's how economic development goes. If you work together, things happen," Humboldt Twp. Supervisor Tom Prophet said.
The rail corridor extends 6.5 miles from Republic Mine to the Humboldt connection, 2.5 miles of which has already been rebuilt.
Reactivation of the former LS&I rail bed would cost $3.5 to 4 million. Republic will apply for funding from the Michigan Rural Development Fund, which actually gets its revenue from mining operations. 65 percent of mineral severance taxes stays in the local area, and 35 percent goes to the fund. By applying to the fund, Republic will be recycling revenue it already created.
"This is kind of a clever way to be able to assure that local revenue could be kept locally," Marquette County District 2 Commissioner Joe Derocha said.
Shipping mineral resources via train could benefit both townships economically.
"They will benefit a little bit by getting the demurrage per ton that goes out," Republic Twp. Supervisor Gary Johnson said. "In our case, we have fiveI'm saying fivepotential products that can go out on that rail line."
Those products are tailings, about a million tons of magnetite ore, a ledge of iron ore beneath the old mine buildings, aggregate to make concrete, and a potential nickel deposit south of South Republic that's ready to be mined.
TV6 contacted the owner of the Republic Mine site, Republic Mountain Lake LLC, but have thus far been unable to reach them for a comment.
The Marquette County Commission is inviting the public for comments and feedback at Republic Town Hall at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, April 14.
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