New titanium mine just three miles from Georgia wildlife refuge center sparks outrage among locals who fear project will wreak havoc on iconic blackwater swamp

Georgia residents are outraged over a titanium mine that could open less than three miles from the historic Okefenokee Swamp, home to 420 different species of wildlife.

The project was proposed by Twin Pines Minerals, which will mine the metal used in a range of industrial and consumer products, including paints, plastics and cosmetics.

Alabama-based Twin Pines has said it plans to farm nearly 3,000 acres in the southeast corner, located 4.6 miles from the edge of the 640-square-mile swamp.

The company’s reassurances have done nothing to assuage locals’ anger and determination to protect the country’s largest blackwater swamp, which has remained largely untouched since European settlers arrived in America.

Georgia’s Environmental Protection Division (EPD) issued permits last month that will allow the project to be completed soon.

But the documents also contain more than 78,000 comments for locals concerned about the mine and its proximity to the swamp.

Bill Sapp, a senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center, said in February: “Georgians have clearly shown that they don’t want this mine.

“Through public comments, petitions and rallies, people are opposing this mine because they understand what is at stake.

“EPD has the authority to deny these permits because the company cannot prove that the Okefenokee and the St. Marys River will not be harmed.”

Okefenokee Swamp is known as a blackwater swamp consisting of slow-moving rivers flowing through wetlands and forested swamps.

The water is colored transparent black due to the organic compounds found in plants that bleed into it from nearby rotting vegetation.

Formed more than 65 million years ago, the swamp has deep roots in the community – starting with indigenous tribes who are believed to have first called it home between 500 and 1200.

Spanish records show that at least two Timucan villages and Spanish missions were located in or near the swamp between 1620 and 1656.

Then white settlers moved in in the early 19th century, creating so-called ‘swamps’.

And the ancestors of these groups still live around the swamp, where more than 700,000 people visit the historic site every year.

Since 1937, federal protection has kept the Okefenokee Swamp largely pristine.

The tea-colored waters, cypress forests, and flooded prairies serve as habitat for alligators, bald eagles, and other protected species.

Charlene Carter told it The Washington Post that her family has been there for generations.

She runs a campground and cafe on the edge of the swamp Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.

However, Twin Pines has promised new job opportunities for locals ‘mining-to-reclamation process that is highly observable and regulated’, meaning it will replant any original native species it excavates during the mining process.

“I don’t care what they say,” Carter said. There is a lot to lose.’

The mining company has said that no more than 15 meters will be dug and that the activities will bring new job opportunities to the area. $60,000 salary for the average position.

Bill Sapp, a senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center, told The Washington Post: “We are not anti-mining.

“It’s just ridiculous to build a mine right on the edge of a national treasure like the Okefenokee.”

Twin Pines has been working to obtain government permits for titanium dioxide mining since 2019.

News of the proposal raised concerns among federal scientists who warned that mining near the bowl-like edge of the Okefenokee could damage the swamp’s ability to retain water.

The Fish and Wildlife Service wrote in a five-page response to the Army Corps in 2019: “We are concerned that the proposed project poses significant risks of significant environmental impacts.

“If consequences occur, they may not be able to be reversed, repaired or mitigated.”

Twin Pines narrated The Washington Post that it intends to ‘leave the country better than we found it’.

According to the company, this will be done by only a small part of the site to be mined at any one time and would progress at 30 meters per day, with the average time each part of the mine being open claimed to be five days.

According to a 2023 studyTitanium dioxide has also been shown to cause lung cancer in animals and has been classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as a Group 2B carcinogen – suspected carcinogen.

Endangered species such as the red woodpecker, storks, indigo snakes and others currently call the swamp their home and if the area is cleared it could destroy the ecosystem.

The planned Twin Pines mine will be located 3 miles from the Trail Ridge refuge and scientists say it will damage the swamp’s hydrology.

The Georgia Municipal Association passed the approval Okefenokee Conservation Act in January to prevent mining operations on Trail Ridge, citing concerns that mines will generate “significant amounts of wastewater,” causing droughts and resulting wildfires.

The state held a public hearing earlier this month attended by nearly 300 people and with 100 speaking out against the mine.

“This mining operation represents nothing but greed,” Matthew Gobbi, a resident who visits Okefenokee twice a week, said at the meeting.

“I have yet to speak to a single person who is in good spirits about this mine. It’s the exact opposite,” he continued.

“Everyone who loves and cherishes the Okefenokee is deeply opposed to it. I am among the hundreds of thousands of visitors and thousands of local residents and more than forty conservation organizations who deeply regret what the mine represents.”

This isn’t the first time a mining company has tried to break ground in search of the massive titanium deposits at the base of Trail Ridge.

In the 1990s, DuPont submitted plans to build a titanium dioxide mine over tens of thousands of acres near Okefenokee, but then-Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt argued against the mine, saying at the time that it was “incompatible” with the nearby ecosystem.

Babbitt, who worked under the Clinton administration, urged DuPont to look elsewhere for titanium, saying it is a “common mineral… while the Okefenokee is a very unusual swamp.”

A similar stream of complaints is being filed against Twin Pines, along with Josh Marks, an environmental attorney who has fought mining near the swamp and calls the draft permits “a death sentence” for the swamp.

He added that mining so close to the Okefenokee is “a disaster waiting to happen.”

“We are not anti-mining,” Bill Sapp, a senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center, told The Post.

“It’s just ridiculous to build a mine right on the edge of a national treasure like the Okefenokee.”

Dailymail.com has contacted Twin Pines Minerals LLC and the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge for comment.