At worst, they do what they tried last time and try to fight a...

At worst, they do what they tried last time and try to fight a legal battle. Reality is it's an underground mine who will use toll processing or off-site processing at a later date. It's an underground mine which means the visual effects are practically nil. I'm sure in this day and age appropriate measures could be used to transport ore in a way that doesn't cause huge problems. Locals could moan and complain but reality is they've been doing it for a long time, only lately has it come out in the open. The silent majority of people just carry on with their life and enjoy the new mine employees regularly shopping at their business - even during the winter time.