I at least partially agree with some of what you wrote Joel. The things that do trouble me is the deregulation of safeguards surrounding the ore mining, so yeah  It can be done in a safe, practicable, and profitable manner. -- without regulations that turns into "it can be done in a profitable manner." So some folks can get decent jobs for a few years at the cost of unregulated potential damage lasting several decades at minimal.

Other, more general problem is mining is a very volatile industry. there are any number of ghost-towns, or gutted towns scattered throughout the upper Midwest that relied on mining. It's not a terribly great industry to grow communities around. It's very prone to boom and bust cycles. More so than many industries.

Given that that Gogebic Taconite has already hired essential paramilitary forces from Arizona as security in response to some vandalism and minor theft rather then using the police department does little to bolster Gogebic Taconite's image as something concerned with the well being of the area.