Phase I of Rock Creek mine one step closer

Hecla recently received notice that the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) has passed Rock Creek’s silver and copper mining Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS). The next step is the USFS’s issuance of the Record of Decision for Phase I.

The SEIS posted in the Federal Register on July 20. Following USFS protocol, there will be a 30-day review period before Kootenai Forest Service Supervisor Chris Savage issues the Record of Decision.

According to USFS Cabinet District Ranger John Gubel, the 30-day wait period is not designed for public comment or objection as that phase has already passed. The period is for interested public to view the document.

During this period, the USFS is monitoring state actions against Hecla for violating Montana’s “Bad Actor” statute. The state continues to support its claim against Hecla’s CEO Phillips Baker, Jr. When he was an executive for Pegasus Gold Corp., which filed for bankruptcy in 1998, the mining company left three sites that polluted adjacent waterways with arsenic, cyanide and other toxins, costing the state $35 million in clean-up, with an ongoing $2 million per year to continue water treatments.

“We wish the Governor’s office was not creating an unnecessary obstacle,” Hecla’s Bruce Vincent said, adding that he feels residents of Lincoln and Sanders counties have been waiting “decades for this project.”

“This decision could open the door for Phase I of the Rock Creek project,” RC Resources General Manager Doug Stiles stated.

Phase I will include exploratory drilling of the Rock Creek mining area. As of now, the state has not withdrawn Hecla’s exploratory drilling permit, although Montana Department of Environmental Quality requested, in late June, that the courts ban Hecla’s Baker from any exploratory mining until he is no longer in violation of the law.

Hecla plans to construct, operate and reclaim an underground copper and silver mine in Rock Creek, located between Trout Creek and Noxon, adjacent to the Cabinet Mountain Wilderness on the Cabinet Ranger District, Kootenai National Forest. Hecla secured the mine in 2015 under the Revett Mining acquisition.

A copy of the SEIS and other documents related to the Rock Creek mine project can be viewed at http://www.fs.usda.gov/projects/kootenai/landmanagement/projects.

Katelyn Miller, Project Coordinator for the USFS, can be contacted at (406) 293-6211. Luke Russell with RC Resources can be contacted at (208) 769-4115 or email at [email protected].