By Amy Beth Hanson ASSOCIATED PRESS
HELENA – The
Montana Supreme Court has removed a big obstacle for a mining company
seeking to explore a silver and copper deposit potentially worth billions of dollars
under the Cabinet Mountain Wilderness in northwestern Montana.
Exploration
of that deposit has been delayed in part by a long-running dispute over whether
Mines Management Inc. can access it by using a tunnel that goes under late
Arnold Bakie’s nearby mining claims. Bakie and an investment group that
included former Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer had alleged Mines
Management’s use of the tunnel through the claims was trespassing.
In a 5-0
decision Nov. 26, the justices ruled that Bakie’s mining claims weren’t valid
because they contained no valuable minerals.
Now Mines Management
is working with the U.S. Forest Service on an environmental analysis of its
planned exploration to assess the project’s feasibility, which seeks to mine a
multibillion-dollar silver and copper deposit. The analysis will assess the
project’s potential effects on the environment and the plants and animals in
the area.
