A Canadian mining company has been cleared to begin exploratory drilling for copper and gold in northern Wisconsin.

GreenLight Metals, which does business as Green Light Wisconsin, says it wants to make the state a “premier” domestic producer of critical minerals. The company has received state and federal approvals to conduct exploratory drilling of the Bend Deposit on U.S. Forest Service land northwest of Medford in Taylor County. The deposit is believed to contain 4 million tons of mostly copper and gold. The company plans to drill eight holes on six drill sites spanning less than an acre.

The announcement comes as the company will go public Monday on the Toronto Stock Exchange. CEO Matt Filgate said becoming a public company will speed up mining exploration of the Penokean Volcanic Belt in Wisconsin.

“This access to capital markets will directly benefit our projects, allowing us to advance our drilling programs, create local employment opportunities and strengthen Wisconsin’s position in critical mineral development,” Filgate said in a statement. “As a company with deep Wisconsin roots, we’re committed to responsible exploration that respects both the environment and the communities where we operate.”

The company has raised about $4 million to $5 million for exploration activities from individual investors, according to Steve Donohue, who serves on the company’s board of directors. “We still have a couple steps to go through to get that set up. But hopefully by summer sometime, we will be out there drilling at the Bend Deposit,” Donohue told WPR.

The company recently provided updates on its exploration plans to town board members in Westboro, as well as officials serving on the Taylor County mining committee. Donohue said GreenLight plans to engage more with local communities in the coming months as it prepares for exploratory drilling.

GreenLight Metals needs to provide the state with 48-hour notice prior to drilling, said Molly Gardner, metallic mining coordinator for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Gardner said the agency will be there to monitor operations when the company begins drilling, and the agency plans to conduct unannounced inspections.

“We’ll get on-site, and we’ll make sure the company is following their plan,” Gardner said. “It’s important to us. It’s important to everyone for the protection of our resources.”

The company has obtained state permits to control stormwater runoff, as well as any water that leaves the site as a result of drilling. The Forest Service has also granted approval of the company’s plan, and the agency plans to monitor operations. In late February, GreenLight Metals submitted a $50,000 bond to the state to cover the cost of abandoning drill holes.

“Our ultimate goal would be to expand the resource through subsequent drilling, so increase the size of the deposit through drilling and confirming what’s there,” Donohue said. “Then, (the company will) eventually do engineering studies on that and see if there’s a viable resource there that could be developed at some point down the road.”

Donohue said it would be at least five years before the company has done enough drilling and studies to determine whether a mine could be developed under Wisconsin law. At that point, he added it would likely take another four years to go through the state’s permitting process.

Some residents, environmental groups and tribes have expressed concerns that the company’s plans would contaminate water resources surrounding the Reef and Bend Deposits.

In March, the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa filed petitions for a contested case hearing and judicial review, challenging the construction site storm water permit issued to GreenLight Metals for drilling.

Metals like gold and copper that occur in sulfide ore bodies 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.

Drill plans come amid demand for domestic supply of critical minerals

The company also owns or leases minerals for other sites, including the Reef Deposit in Marathon County. The deposit is roughly 12 miles east of Wausau and contains about 454,000 tons of gold reserves. GreenLight Metals has also expressed interest in the Lobo and Lobo East properties as part of a massive sulfide deposit 15 miles southwest of the town of Crandon, which contains zinc and copper. It also owns rights to the Swede deposit in northern Wisconsin.

In 2022, the DNR requested additional information from GreenLight Metals for its plans to explore the Reef Deposit, but Gardner said no further details have yet been provided to the agency.

Donohue said the company is reviewing where it may conduct exploratory drilling next.

“As we look as a society to do things like electric vehicles, green energy generation, we need to have secure supply chains of those critical metals that go into those technologies,” Donohue said, adding those metals occur in Wisconsin.

He said that includes metals such as copper, zinc and tellurium that’s used to manufacture solar panels. The clean energy transition is set to increase demand for such minerals, according to the International Energy Agency.

President Donald Trump invoked the Defense Production Act in March to boost domestic mineral production. Former President Joe Biden also invoked the law to ensure domestic supply of critical minerals for the clean energy transition.