Conservation group makes $60M land deal to end mining threat outside Georgia’s Okefenokee Swamp

A conservation group said it has reached a $60 million deal to buy land outside the Okefenokee Swamp from a mining company that environmentalists spent years battling over a proposed mine that opponents feared could irreparably damage an ecological treasure.
The Conservation Fund said it will buy all 7,700 acres (31.16 square kilometers) that Alabama-based Twin Pines Minerals owns outside the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in southeast Georgia, halting the company’s mining plans.