An Australian mining company is looking to build a gold mine near the town of Lincoln. State environmental regulators are now soliciting public feedback on the project.
Public comment period opens for proposed gold mine near Lincoln
Australian mining company Sentinel Metals plans to begin exploration at a privately owned site five miles south of Lincoln as soon as April.
The company must first determine what’s underground to see if it would be profitable to build a mine. Sentinel Metals has applied for a permit to drill 21 holes that would go nearly half a mile below ground.
Krista Lee Evans is Sentinel’s vice-president of government and community relations, and is based in Helena. She says if the application is approved,the goal is to start drilling in about a month.
"We estimate about four to six weeks, recognizing that at the same time, we have baseline analysis being conducted on wildlife, vegetation, fisheries, all those other pieces," Evans says.
There are already more than 400 drilling holes at the site from historic exploration. Evans says that means the disturbance from these new holes will be minimal, and the nearby Blackfoot River won’t be impacted.
"It's on top of a mountain. It's not on the Blackfoot River," she says.
Evans says they’ll be trucking in water from a local commercial well and disposing of wastewater at permitted facilities. But there are still concerns from some locals about how close the mine would be to the river.
Brandon Bodecker owns a fishing lodge on the North Fork of the Blackfoot, outside Ovando.
"I'm not anti-mine, but I think a mine located at the headwaters of the Blackfoot is a bad idea," Bodecker says. "Mining, historically in Montana, doesn't have a good history of what they do to rivers and water quality."
Bodecker says it’s no secret the rivers are struggling with fisheries health, ongoing drought, and water quality.
"And not just water quality for my business, for fishing, but also, you know, the ranchers need clean water for their cattle, clean water for their crops."
The public can weigh-in on the Montana Department of Environmental Quality’s environmental assessment through April 13. Sentinel Metals will also be holding a public meeting about the project at Lincoln Community Hall on April 7 from 4-7p.m.
