Lawsuit against mine really is aimed at putting people out of work

To the Editor:

Cesar Hernandez said in his letter to the editor that when I assert his group's lawsuit is, and I quote directly, "aimed at putting people out of work; nothing could be further from the truth."

No Mr. Hernandez, nothing could be more true.

The lawsuit filed by Mr. Hernandez's group, the Cabinet Resource Group, specifically requests the court to rule that the Troy Mine's operating permit be declared void and invalid. As Mr. Hernandez said in his letter, "a company may not mine without an operating permit."

The lawsuit specifically asks that the mine be closed, throwing 170 people out of work. How can anyone interpret the actions of the CRG any other way?

The facts are this:

* Montana law allows - actually encourages - an Environmental Assessment be done to see if the factors are present that trigger an Environmental Impact Statement.

* Since we purchased the Troy Mine, the bond has increased nearly $10 million, to well over $12 million.

* During Troy's initial 12 years of operation, the 11-plus years of care and maintenance and the past two years of operation, monitoring data show there's been no impact to groundwater or surface water in the vicinity of the mine.

Our actions speak louder than our words: we're committed to and have fully protected Montana's wonderful environment while operating the mine.

That outstanding record, of course, isn't good enough for CRG. They see Troy as the cash flow underwriting our efforts to permit a mirror image operation at Rock Creek. Their real goal truly is to stop Rock Creek. In doing so, they will happily sacrifice the livelihood of 170 families at Troy.

Despite CRG, we'll continue to work to keep those jobs at Troy as long as possible, and to increase our payroll by permitting Rock Creek and bringing it into production - while protecting Montana's environment and taxpayers at the same time.

Bill Orchow

President and CEO

Revett Minerals Inc.