Sterling Gets Tough Crowd At Open House

Sterling Mining Co.’s efforts to avoid a hostile crowd failed Tuesday when its open house here was crashed by a number of Rock Creek Mine opponents.

Sterling, the new owners of the Troy and proposed Rock Creek mines in Montana, scheduled the open house in part to “earn your trust as a neighbor,” according to a letter distributed by the company’s president, former Montana Gov. Tim Babcock.

But it was clear after an hour into the open house at Sandpoint’s Community Hall that this town wasn’t easily won over by handshakes and assurances.

First, several mine opponents carried their protest placards into the hall and attempted to set up a table to sell shirts for the Rock Creek Alliance, a local environmental group fighting the mine that would discharge wastewater into the Clark Fork River.

They were met by Sterling CEO Frank Duval, who sent them outside to hawk the shirts.

Hippies, blue-collar workers, moms and well-heeled local businessmen all voiced concerns about the Rock Creek Mine or Sterling’s integrity.

At one point, tired of the diffuse format of the meeting, one woman called out, “I’m wondering if there are others in the room who would like a question-and-answer period.”

Sterling agreed to a brief session after the group of 50 or so made it clear that was the desire of the majority.

Soon, the questions zeroed in on concerns about Duval’s business history. Duval helped found the former Pegasus-Gold Corp., which owned the Zortman-Landusky gold mines in Montana. He was a consultant for the company until 1987.

Pegasus filed for bankruptcy, leaving the state of Montana with financial troubles over the cleanup of contaminated water from the cyanide leaching process used at the mines.

Duval explained to the skeptical crowd that he left Pegasus before the financial problems and water quality violations.

Duval also was president of the Star Phoenix Mine in Shoshone County, which shut down in the 1990s and also filed for bankruptcy. In that case, Duval said, he was left in the lurch by the other investors in the company.

Finally, Duval is still the president of the Midnite uranium mine in Wellpinit, Wash., which is operated by Dawn Mining Co. and is a Superfund site contender. The Environmental Protection Agency has documented radioactive mine waste contamination in groundwater and a nearby creek.

Duval didn’t lose his cool despite the heated questions, and offered to give up his job at Midnite Mine to anyone interested. The mine has no money, he said, and he has no control, because it’s a subsidiary of another company.

When the questions turned to concerns over the Rock Creek Mine’s impact on the Clark Fork River and Lake Pend Oreille, Babcock said. Duval said “I can’t give you a rock-solid guarantee and only God Almighty could do that.”

“Then leave,” replied Skip Pucci, a local contractor.

“We’ll take God Almighty,” said someone else.

Jeff Bond, owner of Panhandle Kaniksu Realty, voiced the concern that Montana and Idaho citizens would be the next ones left in the lurch if something goes wrong at Rock Creek.

“You’re businessmen, and you’ve proved it over and over,” he said. “When it comes down to it, and you have no money, you’re gone.”

The Sterling Mining owners arrived in Sandpoint about the same time as a threat of a lawsuit against the fledgling company. The Cabinet Resources Group is planning to sue over the lack of a discharge permit for the Troy Mine.

The mine’s previous owner, Asarco Mining Corp., settled a similar lawsuit with the environmental group, resulting in a fund for studies and monitoring.

Cesar Hernandez of the Cabinet Resources Group says the evidence collected so far shows a discharge of contaminated water from the tailings impoundment into the groundwater and nearby Lake Creek.

Dave Young, the former manager of the mine, said Tuesday that the evidence wasn’t conclusive. But he added that Asarco is keeping to its end of the settlement agreement.