Strengthening the Local Economy
PolyMet will generate significant economic benefits—both during construction and after operations begin. The $600 million construction project will engage the equivalent of about 300 skilled construction workers over about three years.
When fully operational, the plant will create 400 full-time jobs with an estimated economic benefit of $40 million.
More than 500 spin-off jobs will be created in St. Louis County alone, generating an annual payroll of about $242 million.
The project is expected to generate tens of millions of dollars annually in federal, state and local taxes.
Maintaining Economic Stability
Because metals are global commodities subject to cyclical prices, PolyMet developed this project using very conservative assumptions about the prices it will receive for the metals it produces. The feasibility study demonstrates that PolyMet will be sustainable at lower metal prices.
For example, PolyMet's feasibility study uses a copper sales price that is less than 40% of the average copper price in 2007; for nickel, the feasibility study used a price for nickel that was about a third of the average nickel price in 2007.
These conservative assumptions will allow PolyMet to operate profitably even during downturns in the global metal markets.