 The mine was the center of a multi-decade political and regulatory battle between environmentalists, American Indian tribes, sportfishing groups, and the State of Wisconsin and several large mining corporations.The purchase of the mine site in 2003 by the Sokaogon Ojibwe and Forest County Potawatomi marked a major victory for the tribes and environmental activists, and raised questions about the future of mining, economics, and tribal power in Wisconsin.The Crandon site was the location of one of several deposits of metallic sulfide ore found in northern Wisconsin during the 1970s, and its estimated 60 million tons of copper, zinc and other metallic sulfides was thought to hold the highest potential for profit.