The owners of a 5,000 acre site of a proposed zinc and copper mine in Crandon, Wisconsin have offered to sell a small portion of the site called Spirit Hill to the Mole Lake Chippewa and Forest County Potawatomi tribes. Over 500 Chippewa and Sioux warriors are buried on the 320 acre hill, where a major clash between tribes occurred in 1806. The tribes, along with environmentalists, have strongly opposed the mining project, which is now under review by the State Department of Natural Resources. Mine project manager Gordon R. Connor says they plan on selling Spirit Hill regardless of the tribes’ responses because it is not included in the proposed mining zone. They did, however, want to give them the right of first refusal. The tribes have not yet responded.
