Montanore Mine one step closer to permit

The Montanore Positive Action Committee held a public meeting in the Ponderosa Room Wednesday night to discuss the future of the Montanore Silver-Copper Project that some believe is nearing the end of long-time environmental assessments, procedural delays and legal conflicts.

Eric Klepfer, the permitting consultant for the Montanore project, said the final Environmental Impact Statement for the project has been drafted. That document, Klepfer said, was what the project has been waiting for. 

In April, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued the final biological opinion for the project. 

All that will be left to complete after the final EIS is finished is the Record of Decision part of the process, which will now factor in an evaluation “objection process” to try to avoid potential lawsuits, a common issue that industry projects face.

The site of the Montanore project, overseen by Mines Management Inc., is estimated to contain more than 230 million ounces of silver and nearly 2 billion pounds of copper deposits, according to the Mines Management company website. 

In 2005, the Montanore project started an application to re-permit the use of the mine; the application was an amendment of the 1993 permits applications submitted by Noranda Minerals of Canada, which had by then withdrawn operations from the U.S. At that time, Mines Management estimated the process to be complete within 15 to 20 months. 

Mines Management CEO Glenn Dobbs explained to the audience why the project has taken an immense amount of time. He said the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process for the project is complicated and misguided.

“The problem with the NEPA process is that it doesn’t have to do with protection of wildlife or protection of the forests,” Dobbs said. “It was mainly established to gain control of the land.”

Dobbs also said NEPA has developed a strong environmentalist message counter to the goals of the Montanore project. He pointed to lawsuits and conflict with other parties including former Montana governor Brian Schweitzer, former Idaho mine claimholder consultant Frank Wall and former Sterling Mining president Frank Duval. 

The latest legal wrangle in July developed between Mines Management, Wall and the claimholders, and Optima Inc, regarding access to a 14,000-foot adit, or underground tunnel, into the copper and silver mine worth an estimated $8 billion. Mines Management and these competing parties have battled for access to the adit since 2007.

Dobbs said Mines Management’s financial resources have been strained due to the length of the permitting process — he said the company has paid about $600,000 in legal fees alone.

“Mines Management used to fund the rodeo every year,” he said. “But we couldn’t do it this year. We couldn’t donate this year. When we have a project like Montanore that is so good for the community and yet there are so many scoundrels involved, these issues only work to the detriment of the community.”

Rita Windom, a former Lincoln County commissioner, said she remembered being younger and being told by government officials that the mine would be up and running soon — but that time had long since past.

Another audience member mentioned how lawsuits, a common counter that environmentalist groups bring to halt mining and timber industry in the region, is inevitable. When lawsuits are filed after the permitting process for industry projects, time is absorbed and years can go by before the project can start.

Klepfer said he has realized that litigation is inevitable, and that although the project has attempted to communicate with certain environmental groups, no response was received.

One of the new innovations in the permitting process is called the “objection process,” Klepfer and Steve Gunderson, a member of the Montanore Positive Action Committee, said. With this process, the U.S. Forest Service essentially requires groups that are considering bringing litigation against an industry project to address the specific issues they have with the project and come up with a resolution for the issues.

Klepfer said this is a landmark time for the Montanore project and the action committee.

“We are one step away from getting this out the door,” he said. “We’ve never been at this point before. This is very good news, and we are thankful for the community’s support.”