FOLLOW US

Minneapolis, MN - A Native American tribe has asked a Minnesota federal court to disregard a mining company's objections to a magistrate judge's order compelling it to produce nearly 500 documents related to a land exchange dispute, arguing that it failed to establish attorney-client privilege claims.

The Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians urged the court Tuesday to deny PolyMet Mining Inc.'s attempt to pause the magistrate's discovery decision, saying the company must produce previously withheld information in the tribe's bid to undo the land swap for copper and nickel mining. The Ninth Circuit has paused the decision as the company appeals the order.

The federally recognized tribe's brief contests PolyMet's opposition to what the Fond du Lac Band describes as a "straightforward document request" served more than a year ago regarding PolyMet's conveyance of 759 acres of federal land to Northshore Mining Co.

The tribe argues that PolyMet has wrongly asserted an "equitable defense," claiming the tribe's suit is not valid, and now refuses to share information revealing how the company concealed the conveyance transaction from the public.

"PolyMet continues to oppose disclosure of relevant information regarding an equitable defense it interjected into this litigation," the tribe argued. "PolyMet's objections should be overruled because, despite having multiple opportunities, PolyMet failed to establish attorney-client privilege claims to over 400 documents."

PolyMet objected on May 13 to U.S. Magistrate Judge Leo Brisbois' April 29 order instructing it to produce hundreds of documents that it had previously withheld in the Fond du Lac Band's suit seeking to undo the land swap with Northshore Mining for copper and nickel mining. The order was paused earlier in May by the Ninth Circuit.

"When PolyMet objected to producing more than the transactional documents related to the Northshore land transfer, the Band moved to compel," PolyMet said in its May 13 brief. "Judge Brisbois ruled for the Band, ordering PolyMet to produce documents in 30 days."

The company asserts that it complied with the order, producing hundreds of documents and a privilege log, although it objected to some of the judge's reasoning.

In February, the Fond du Lac Band asked the court for discovery sanctions against PolyMet and its counsel of record, after the court granted what the tribe called its "modest" set of discovery requests about the land swap between the company and Northshore Mining.

According to the sanctions motion, PolyMet avoided disclosing relevant information with "boilerplate" language and allegedly unsupported claims of attorney-client privilege.

Judge Brisbois on April 29 refused to sanction PolyMet but ordered the company to produce copies of documents that the court had identified as improperly withheld, saying that after three attempts it had been unable to show that attorney-client privilege applies to many of its communications.

More recently, on May 6, U.S. District Judge Patrick J. Schiltz granted PolyMet's motion for a temporary restraining order, blocking the April 29 ruling that the company must produce 497 documents from its privilege log within 14 days.

PolyMet Mining Inc. became NewRange Copper Nickel LLC, holder of the NorthMet asset, after the close of a joint venture announced in February 2023 between the company and Teck Resources Ltd. As of Nov. 7, PolyMet is a wholly owned subsidiary of Switzerland-headquartered commodity trading and mining giant Glencore PLC.