leslie kolesar is the chairwoman of the mining impact committee. >> both of my grandfathers, six of my uncles worked in gogebic range iron mines. ya know people forget that these gogebic ranges mines we built america. we helped win world war one and world war two. >> why is it important for this mine to go forward and what are the stakes and why are you supportive of it? >> if you look at our local economy we have the highest unemployment rate in the state. thirteen point three percent unemployment and the people who are working here, those tourism jobs are paying seven dollars and twenty-five cents an hour. can you support a family of four on that? of course not. >> what have you been promised in the way of what the mine will bring economically to the community? >> ...they've estimated at 700...good family-supporting jobs with benefits, retirement health insurance, uh, paid vacation, sick leave, things that most of your tourism jobs don't offer. >> the estimate of 700 jobs comes from a study commissioned by gtac. those jobs would be created over the course of 35 years, the first phase