Mining company eyes minerals under Cabinet Mountains Wilderness

The Hecla Mining Company wants to know how much copper and silver ore exists at an old mining site 20 miles south of the town of Libby.

The Libby Exploration Project, formerly referred to as the Montanore Mine, would explore a mine shaft dug under the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness in the 1980s. Hecla acquired the site in 2016.

On a recent tour for locals, Hecla’s Director of Environmental Operations Marty Stearns said the exploration would not further disturb the surface area.

“We have 11.6 acres disturbed here. This project will disturb no more. And that's, this is all private land, privately owned. So the only thing that's happening under Forest Service is it's all underground,” Stearns said.

Half of the mine shaft, called an adit, is currently underwater. Hecla’s project would dewater that area, and explore the site to determine if it is economically viable to mine. That exploration includes removing waste rock and drilling boreholes.

Mining has a complicated history here. Decades of vermiculite mining exposed Libby residents to asbestos, leaving a legacy of negative health impacts. But extractive industries like mining, and logging, have also been historic economic drivers for the region.

Today, Sanders and Lincoln counties have some of the highest unemployment rates in the state. Some locals see a new mine as a job creator. Hecla agrees, but cautions that an actual mine, and the jobs that come with it, is still many years away.

“If everything proved out through this, an optimistic approach, is 10 years before we would ever see an actual mine,” Stearns said.

Hecla’s local tour started at the exploration site, and then went on to the 400 acre reclamation site of a decommissioned mine nearby in Troy. Whether the Libby Exploration Project shows building a mine isn’t financially viable, or a mine ends up being built here, Hecla is responsible for reclamation of the area. Stearns used the Troy site as an example of what that reclamation process looks like.

Ellis Juhlin

Libby resident Mike Fantasia attended the mine tour and said he felt less concerned, and guardedly optimistic about the mine’s potential impacts.

“After coming over to Troy and seeing the reclaimed tailings pond I have a much more open mind,” Fantasia said.

But Hecla’s past has others concerned. The company’s former CEO was alleged to be a “bad actor” for failing to conduct reclamation when he ran the Pegasus Gold mine. A coalition of environmental groups and tribes sued but the case was dismissed when Phillips retired.

Local environmental groups are concerned about potential downstream impacts to nearby Libby Creek. Rick Bass with the Yaak Valley Forest Council questions what impact chemicals in the drilling fluids and additives could have for the watershed.

“That sounds like I'm saying not in my backyard, but this isn't, this isn't anybody's backyard. This is our kitchen in Libby. This is the water that comes out of our faucet,” Bass said.

Bass is also concerned by the site's proximity to important wildlife habitat, including federally protected grizzly bears and bull trout.

There is now a period where anyone who commented on the Forest Service’s Environmental Assessment of the project can object. That will run through early September. The Forest Service will then have 30 days to evaluate objections and make a decision on permitting the exploration.