Court upholds Rock Creek Mine permit

The Montana Supreme Court last week made a decision to uphold a permit for Hecla’s proposed Rock Creek mine issued by the state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC).

The DNRC issued the water right permit in January 2018 that covers Hecla’s ability to use water for operations at the proposed silver and copper mine. The Supreme Court voted 5-2 last week to overturn a 2019 judgment in First Judicial District Court.

“We’re pleased with the Supreme Court’s ruling in supporting the state DNRC’s issuance of the water right permit for Rock Creek,” said Luke Russell, vice president of external affairs for Hecla, adding that they believe the agency followed all the right procedures.

Russell said Hecla has received the final environmental impact statement and record of decision from the U.S. Forest Service and the exploration permit from the state of Montana and that the Forest Service has partially approved the plan of operations for exploration of the Rock Creek mine site, northeast of Noxon.

The first phase of the proposed Rock Creek plan will have limited impact on the land and is mostly underground work, Russell stated. “It will allow us to get the hard data to further define the project and the environmental impact of the full mining project.” The proposed first phase will include exploration and would disturb just under 20 acres of the public and private land at the site. The company would examine the feasibility of the commercial mining operations in phase 2.

Russell said the data collection in phase 1 will take about three years but have a very small footprint on the area. The first phase would include a lot of contract work, he said, but the company’s philosophy is to hire locals to the maximum extent possible, and they would encourage the contractors to hire locally as well. The first phase would include 40-50 jobs.

If the mine is approved, Hecla has stated the silver and copper mining operation would last at least 30 years. The Forest Service’s approval of the record of the decision has been challenged by several environmental groups and is being reviewed at the federal level. Russell said Hecla expects a decision on that litigation sometime this year.

The proposed Rock Creek Mine outside of Noxon would produce an estimated 6 million ounces of silver and 50 million pounds of copper a year, according to the Hecla website.