COURIER-GAZETTE • February 24, 2023
A 52-year-old association with interest in Crawford Pond that straddles two towns is uniting in opposition to a plan by a Canadian company to explore whether there are minerals worth mining. The Board of Directors of the Crawford Lake Association decided on Feb. 20 to form an advocacy team — “Citizens Against Residential Mining Activity” or “CARMA” — to investigate and oppose residential metal mining and mining exploration in Union and Warren. Officials from Exiro Minerals of Toronto, Canada, met in January, in separate meetings, with the town managers and code enforcement officers, for Warren and Union. The company then asked to meet with the Select Boards from both communities. Exiro, through its wholly-owned Delaware subsidiary Wintergreen Resources, LLC, has leased with options to own the mineral rights formerly held by Knox Nickel. The local project will be called Nickelwise Project, Maine. The lease is on property owned by Robbins Lumber.