Proposed Mine Faces Rocky Road

The proposed Rock Creek Mine here poses the same quality-of-life decision facing every community blessed with natural resources.

The water, wildlife and scenery can be left alone - or put at risk for millions of dollars in cash from industry.

Mine developer Asarco Inc. estimates that up to $25 million annually would flow from the mine in the form of payroll for 340 workers, goods and services, and taxes.

Rock Creek could become the town’s lifeblood, spilling its economic bounty into Bonner County.

“We’ve already put millions into the project to get it where it is today,” said Dave Young, Asarco’s project manager. “Most of that money stayed right here for consultants and drilling. We’ll spend $140 million just to bring this mine to production, a lot of that staying local.”

But will Asarco ever pull its silver-copper ore from under the Cabinet Mountain Wilderness Area?

Even in a best-case scenario, it will be at least four years before the first ounce of metal is processed at Rock Creek’s mill. Even after an environmental impact statement is approved, Young believes the project’s design will be challenged by local environmental groups in court.

That would put Rock Creek on the same path as Montanore, a proposed mine across the Cabinet Mountains to the east of Noxon. Toronto-based Noranda Inc. bought the property in 1988.

Noranda back then put Montanore at the top of its project development list, said Mark Petersmeyer, project director in Libby. With 15 years of reserves, the big mine would have employed 480 people.

But the mine’s patent application is stuck in Washington, D.C., after the Clinton Administration changed the rules on patenting. A lawsuit by environmental groups challenging the Forest Service’s approval of the mine also has stalled the project.

“Nobody on the planet has an idea when things will move again,” Petersmeyer said. “We’re just in a holding pattern here.”

The company will have to evaluate the demand for silver and copper before pushing on with Montanore.

The same holds true for Rock Creek. Even if any legal challenges are met and the mine could start production, Asarco has plenty more copper and silver around the world.

Its Troy copper/silver mine to the north has several years of reserves left. It also owns half of two silver mines in Idaho’s Silver Valley.

Both metal markets would have to show sustained strength for Rock Creek to make financial sense, Young said. Even with strong metals prices, the profit margin for Rock Creek wouldn’t be large, he said.

Clearly, though, Sanders County could use the jobs. So, too, could Bonner County.

, DataTimes