Company wants Troy mine suit tossed

MISSOULA – Mining company Revett Minerals Inc. wants a lawsuit against it thrown out or moved to a city that is closer to the Troy mine and its employees.

Revett on Tuesday asked to be removed from the suit, saying conservationists have fingered the wrong company. Revett Minerals Inc. owns 67 percent of Revett Silver Co., which owns Genesis Inc., which operates the Troy Mine in northwestern Montana.

Revett attorney Alan Joscelyn said the company is only a distant shareholder, and as such cannot be named in the suit.

Acting as attorney for Genesis, Joscelyn then denied claims by the environmental organization Cabinet Resource Group and asked that the complaint be thrown out.

Cabinet Resources filed suit in January against Revett and the Montana Department of Environmental Quality. It says they failed to produce an updated reclamation plan for the mine as required and violated provisions of the Metal Mine Reclamation Act.

Joscelyn argued the case should be heard in Lincoln County, where the mine is located, rather than in Helena.

But CRG spokesman Cesar Hernandez said that makes no sense, as attorneys for the environmental group, the DEQ and Revett are all located in Helena.

DEQ attorneys also responded to the lawsuit Tuesday, but did not request a change of venue. Instead, they noted the agency’s continued efforts to get Revett to pay for an environmental impact statement, and acknowledged that “the present reclamation plan is inadequate.”

DEQ attorneys argued that the department is “commencing studies that will be necessary” for an EIS or a scaled-back environmental assessment.

Revett officers have said they believe an environmental analysis, rather than a more thorough environmental impact statement, is the appropriate next step, but plaintiffs note the company has formally committed to neither.

“We’re committed to doing whatever is necessary to protect Montana’s environment and its taxpayers,” Bill Orchow, Revett president and CEO, said when the suit was filed.