PolyMet Mining seems an unlikely candidate to launch North America's next mineral boom. In its 33 years of existence, it hasn't mined a single ounce of marketable ore. The company has posted zero revenue in those three decades, while piling up almost $100 million in losses. And its main physical asset is an abandoned factory filled with idled rock-crushing equipment on a desolate ridge in northeastern Minnesota. Yet Jon Cherry, an environmental engineer and PolyMet's chief executive officer, says the company's profitless days are numbered, thanks to technology he says can squeeze big amounts of difficult-to-extract copper and nickel from the eastern edge of the historic Mesabi Iron Range. PolyMet says its copper deposits, on land about 65 miles north of Duluth, Minn., alone could be worth more than $10 billion.
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