Ascot seeks drilling permits

SEATTLE – A Canadian company wants to continue test drilling for copper and other minerals near Mount St. Helens, but environmentalists worry the move could open the door to mine development near a national monument.

A subsidiary of Vancouver, B.C.-based Ascot Resources is seeking permits from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to drill 63 small holes on federal forest land mostly within the blast zone of the 1980 volcanic eruption. The company wants to explore both private and public mineral estates.

The area is rich in copper but the company won’t know that until it explores, said Robert Evans, Ascot’s chief financial officer. It’s too early to know whether the company would move forward with a mine, he added.

“Until you’ve got the results, you don’t know if you’ve got an economically viable deposit,” said Evans. “You don’t know how you’re going to proceed. We’re just trying to find out some facts.”

BLM is evaluating the company’s plans and is holding public meetings today and Thursday to decide what should be included in an environmental assessment.

Ascot is seeking two prospecting permits to drill on forest land near Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, which draws thousands of visitors and recreationists each year.

Evans said the company hoped to be in the field by mid-September.

Opponents worry about what exploratory drilling would do to nearby streams and recreational areas. They say a hard-rock mine located on the edge of the monument could potentially pollute drinking water for surrounding communities, as well as interfere with hunting, fishing and backcountry hiking.

“We still have concerns about what Ascot will be doing on this area,” said Jessica Walz, conservation director for Gifford Pinchot Task Force, an advocacy group based in Portland. “From our perspective, you wouldn’t put as much money if you weren’t intending to do something a lot larger.”

Under the plan being considered, Ascot wants to explore at 23 sites with about 63 2- to 3-inch boreholes. Each drill site would be smaller than 400 square feet, and work will use former roads and drill pads, many of which were established by a previous company.

“The whole area is less than a quarter of acre,” Evans said.