Rock Creek Mine Proposal, Montana

In 2003, the US Forest Service permitted Revett Silver's enormous copper/silver mine proposal beneath the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness in Kootenai National Forest of western Montana. Despite the fact that the mine would tunnel beneath one of the first designated wilderness areas in the United States, the Forest Service claims that the General Mining Law of 1872 left them no choice but to permit the mine.

The mine would located roughly 15 miles from the Idaho border and 25 miles upstream of Lake Pend Oreille, Idaho's largest fresh-water lake. The mine would operate 24 hours a day for 30 years. Ore would be extracted by hollowing out giant underground rooms, leaving overlying wilderness lands held up by rock pillars. Waste from the mine would be dumped in the Rock Creek drainage of the lower Clark Fork River Valley.

The company plans to treat mine wastewater using unproven, experimental technologies and discharge up to 3 million gallons of wastewater per day containing heavy metals and nutrient pollution into the lower Clark Fork River. Revett also plans to use unproven technology to handle the 100-million-tons of toxic mining waste (tailings), which it would leave permanently in an unlined pile along Rock Creek and just 1/4 mile from the Clark Fork River. As proposed, this mine could devastate Rock Creek, pollute the Clark Fork River and Lake Pend Oreille, and preclude recovery of the grizzly bear and bull trout in Montana and Idaho.

"This mine will kill grizzly bears, ruin critical fish habitat, degrade drinking water, and compromise tens of millions of dollars of abandoned mine restoration work on the downstream Clark Fork River. No one has the right to pollute our community's drinking water and ruin our quality of life."

-- Mary Mitchell, Director of Rock Creek Alliance, who lives in Sandpoint, ID, downstream of the mine proposal
And Revett's executives have a history of attracting capital for risky mining ventures. declaring bankruptcy, and leaving behind pollution and tax liabilities for local citizens. Most prominently, also in Montana, they were behind the Zortman and Landusky gold mines. Under their watch, Zortman Landusky repeatedly spilled cyanide, polluting groundwater and drinking water supplies -- and left taxpayers with a multimillion dollar cleanup bill after declaring bankruptcy in 1998.

The Rock Creek Alliance, along with other groups are challenging the mine's permit in court. Some 60 Idaho panhandle businesses, as well as county commissioners and city council members, oppose the mine.