ST. PAUL (AP) — The Minnesota Court of Appeals has handed environmental groups a victory by suspending two key permits for a planned PolyMet copper-nickel mine ahead of a hearing next month.

The appeals court put PolyMet’s dam safety permit and its permit to mine on hold, ruling Wednesday that the Department of Natural Resources failed to adequately consider two important developments that happened after the agency issued the permits in November 2018.

One was the massive failure of a tailings basin dam at an iron mine in Brazil in January that was somewhat similar to the dam PolyMet plans to build near Hoyt Lakes, which is the Iron Range about 190 miles northeast of Minneapolis. The other is the acquisition of a majority stake in PolyMet by the Swiss commodities giant Glencore in June, Minnesota Public Radio reported.