New Owners of Rock Creek Mine Have Spotty Records

By Rock Creek Alliance staff

Adding new players to the continuing debate about the feasibility of the proposed Rock Creek mine, ASARCO recently sold the project, along with the idle Troy mine, to Sterling Mining Co. Sterling was formed specifically for the purpose of acquiring these mineral interests, but ASARCO remains a major shareholder with a 20% stake in the new company.

The extensive copper/silver ore body that lies beneath the scenic Cabinet Mountains in northwestern Montana has been coveted by the mining industry for decades. ASARCO's first attempt to extract minerals from this ore body was the Troy mine in Lincoln County, which it opened in 1979.

That same year, the company conducted initial exploratory drilling of the Rock Lake deposit in the nearby Cabinet Mountains Wilderness Area. Several years later, ASARCO applied for a permit to build and operate the proposed Rock Creek mine.

Since that time, the mining proposal has been subject to significant criticism and numerous revisions resulting in a supplemental environmental impact statement. Despite ongoing concerns about the environmental and fiscal impacts of these projects, and complications due to a recent change in ownership, the U.S. Forest Service plans to release a final EIS and make a permitting decision before the end of 2000.

Sterling may be a new name in Montana, but the company's principals are anything but new to mining. Sterling executives have a history of attracting capital for risky mining ventures, declaring bankruptcy, and leaving costly environmental cleanup to taxpayers.

The principals of this mining company include: Tim Babcock, Frank Duval, Hobart Teneff, Gary Hebener, and Raymond Hanson. Babcock, a former governor of Montana, has been a mining industry lobbyist and leading opponent of responsible mining in Montana for two decades. Duval and Teneff co-founded Pegasus Gold, which owned and operated the now-bankrupt Zortman and Landusky gold mines near Malta. But there is more to this story and its characters.

Duval and his partners have been involved in other failed mining ventures: Bunker Hill in the Silver Valley, at 21 square miles one of the largest and most complex hazardous waste sites in the nation; Star Phoenix Mine, also in the Silver Valley; and Midnite Mine in Washington state, currently seeping heavy metals and radioactive materials into local waters.

Despite attempts by Sterling to convince local citizens in Montana and Idaho that Rock Creek will be different, the public isn't buying it. At recent town meetings held in Noxon and Sandpoint, locals were eager to question Sterling's principals about their involvement in the failed mining ventures and how they plan to protect public lands and water resources at Rock Creek. When asked by an audience member if Sterling could guarantee protection of the Clark Fork River, Duvall said, "only God Almighty could do that." The audience member said, "We'll take God Almighty."

If constructed, the Rock Creek mine would be located 15 miles from the Montana/Idaho border, just north of scenic Highway 200. The copper/silver ore body, which is located beneath the surface of the wilderness area, would be accessed by driving a shaft three miles underground. The mine would hollow out giant subterranean rooms, leaving only pillars to support the overlying wilderness land surface. Operating 24 hours a day, every day, for the next 30 years, the mine would dump 3 million gallons of polluted water into the lower Clark Fork River daily, destined for Idaho's Lake Pend Oreille. It would leave behind 100 million tons of mining waste along the banks of this historic river.

The enormous threat of water pollution on both sides of the border has raised hackles and continues to sustain an impassioned battle to protect water quality. The Clark Fork River has long suffered abuse by mining and other urban and industrial pollution, but the river is on the mend.

Several ongoing efforts are improving the river's quality: federal and state Superfund remediation efforts; a Voluntary Nutrient Reduction Program; and a ground-breaking relicensing agreement on the Noxon Rapids and Cabinet Gorge dams to reconnect the historic migratory corridor for bull trout. The tide of pollution is finally turning for the Clark Fork River. The Rock Creek mine, which would put pollution right back into the river just upstream of Idaho, simply doesn't make good sense.

If you would like to help protect water quality and wild lands along the Clark Fork River, contact the office of the Rock Creek Alliance in Missoula at 406-543-2947 or in Sandpoint, Idaho at 208-265-8272.