Historic land deal halts mine planned next to Georgia's Okefenokee Swamp

[Pinback]

Great news for one of the world's most treasured wilderness areas!

After six years, a controversial bid to mine next door to Georgia’s famed Okefenokee Swamp is no more.

The Conservation Fund, a nonprofit specializing in acquiring at-risk lands, announced Friday it has purchased property near the Okefenokee where an Alabama-based company had planned to mine. The move puts an immediate halt to a project that scientists and environmentalists had feared could irreparably damage North America’s largest blackwater swamp.

It’s a stunning end to a yearslong fight over the mine that has been waged in courtrooms, the halls of the Georgia General Assembly and in rural counties surrounding the vast wilderness.

For environmental advocates who had pushed federal and state officials to reject the project, the agreement is likely to be seen as a monumental victory, even though other land along the swamp’s edge remains open to mining exploration.

The acquisition was brokered with the financial support of some of the country’s leading private philanthropies, including the James M. Cox Foundation and the Holdfast Collective, a nonprofit focused on environmental protection. Holdfast is funded by the outdoor apparel giant Patagonia. Jim Kennedy, the chairman of the James M. Cox Foundation, is chairman emeritus of Cox Enterprises, the parent company of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Much more at links:

• https://www.ajc.com/business/2025/06/historic-land-deal-halts-mine-planned-next-to-georgias-okefenokee-swamp/


• https://www.conservationfund.org/our-impact/press-room/the-conservation-fund-halts-okefenokee-mining-threat/

(Cross-posted to Environment & Energy, Georgia, Outdoor Life, and General Discussion forums.)

[Brother Buzz]

1. A hat tip to Yvon Chouinard (Patagonia founder)

His environmental activism through his lifetime has been sterling.

Without digging into the story, what was was the mining company gonna mine?

[Pinback]

2. Yes, wonderful legacy.

The plan, originally proposed by DuPont, was to mine titanium using a process that would have been quite destructive to this important ecosystem.

Background here:
https://www.blueridgeoutdoors.com/environment/dont-drain-the-swamp/

[Brother Buzz]

3. Thanks. Mining titanium there is absurd

Titanium is abundant in the world, but it's expensive because of the cost of extracting it from the ore, not unlike aluminum.

Side note: Years ago, I flew down to Southern California to meet Yvon Chouinard and really liked him. We built one of his rare retail stores in San Francisco out of drop dead cherry, and he wanted us to make a boatload of store fixtures to be installed in other retail locations. Half were planned in cherry, and the other half out of VG Douglas fir. Midway through the project, his environmental concerns kicked in and he canned the cherry, and directed us to use recycled Douglas fir.

We scored a bunch of Douglas fir timbers from a Mare Island warehouse that was being razed. LOL, I played sawyer for two week milling up the wood, but let me tell you, that 120+ year or wood was gorgeous, and a real treat to work with.

[Pinback]

4. Thanks for this story.

Cool opportunity to work with one of the great people of our era.

[madville]

5. I bet that company made a decent profit off that deal

$60,000,000 for 8000 acres of that land is pretty high in these areas, about $7500 an acre. There’s 800 acres for sale down the highway from me, much nicer dry wooded land across the state line here in Florida, for $3,200,000, or $4000 an acre and it’s been for sale for years at that price.

They definitely got an offer they couldn’t refuse, glad it will be conserved.