State Sen. Vincent talks mining at chamber luncheon

State Sen. Chas Vincent, R—Libby, is excited about mining.

The state senator, who does public relations for Hecla Mining Co., spoke on the company’s behalf at a Libby Area Chamber of Commerce luncheon on Wednesday at The Shed.

“I believe we’re entering another great time of innovation,” he said. “I’m quite struck with the changes that have occurred.”

Vincent spoke about the future of the Montanore Mine in Lincoln County and the Rock Creek Mine in Sanders County. Hecla purchased the properties last month and a little over a year ago, respectively.

Vincent said he is hopeful that the Montanore Mine will begin doing some work next summer, including road, treatment facility and plant operations upgrades along with data collection. The mine received a Record of Decision (ROD) from the U.S. Forest Service in February.

He is hopeful that a supplemental environmental impact statement and Record of Decision for the Rock Creek Mine will be finished by the first quarter of next year. That mine has been on hold for 28 years, he said.

Reclamation of the defunct Troy Mine that Hecla acquired when it purchased the Rock Creek Mine is planned for the next two or three years, he said. This will involve recovering mine tailings on some 400-plus acres.

Vincent, who is a consultant with Environomics, said that today’s mining can be environmentally responsible. The Montanore Mine project, for example, will secure and manage over 6,000 acres of private land for grizzly bear habitat. In addition, the Rock Creek Mine will secure 2,450 acres for bears.

He said that Hecla’s Greens Creek Mine in southeast Alaska operates in the greatest density of brown bears in the U.S., and added that the landscape in southeast Alaska is similar to northwest Montana.

When opened, the Montanore and Rock Creek mines may employ more than 400 and 300, respectively, he said.

Some of the technological advances in mining that he noted include: using jumbo drills to extract low-grade ore, computer and 3D models that help identify the best areas to target, battery-powered equipment that results in no emissions, and driverless vehicles that enable an operator at a control booth to run functions at four or five different places.

Vincent, who has worked with Environomics for 10 years, previously worked with Revett on the Rock Creek Mine.

“There’s not much of a change between Revett and Hecla on how they plan to develop this project,” he said of the mine, which was also owned by Genesis, Pegasus Silver and ASARCO through the years.

Vincent said that change is needed at the federal level to overcome litigation that prevents mines from opening.

The current federal policies create a platform for judicial activism, he said. “We need federal process reform.”