A mine exploration company wants to drill in the Bitterroot at Sheep Creek near the head of the West Fork, and a group of conservation organizations called on the U.S. Forest Service this week to conduct a complete environmental review — with public participation — prior to any approvals.
“Just the thought of an industrial scale mine on the Bitterroot River horrifies most Bitterrooters,” said Larry Campbell, conservation director for Friends of the Bitterroot and a retired exploration geologist, in a statement. “A worse location would be hard to find.”
The Bitterroot National Forest could not be reached Friday for comment; a ranger and public affairs officer both were out of the office. A third employee said a person with knowledge about the project might not be available until Monday.
However, in a letter Thursday to the Forest Service, the Center for Biological Diversity and 18 other groups asked the Bitterroot National Forest to avoid circumventing the National Environmental Policy Act and its public engagement requirements with the project.
The Daily Montanan reports that the groups also note disturbances would take place in an area with wolverines, which are threatened, Canada lynx, and species of concern, such as mountain goats and the Northern Rockies fisher. It said iconic species reside or move through the area.
If approved, the groups also said the exploration would take place at the head of the West Fork of the Bitterroot, critical habitat for bull trout and “subject to Endangered Species Act special consideration.”
“The proposed mine would undoubtedly impact the recovery of grizzly bears in the Bitterroot,” said the letter to the Forest Service, which requests a map showing verified grizzly occurrences within 100 miles of the project site.
U.S. Critical Materials is a mine exploration and development company with claims at Sheep Creek. In a phone call, Edward Cowle, listed on the company’s website as a director on the management team, said the company wants to drill as soon as the end of summer 2024, but he does not believe that target is realistic.
A Missoulian investigation published June 2023 said Cowle and two other members of the U.S. Critical Materials management team, including CEO Geoffrey Williams, have faced fraud allegations in the mining industry.
A 2013 court settlement referenced in the story notes Cowle and Williams were dismissed from the U.S. Rare Earths board of directors because they had allegedly violated federal law and breached fiduciary duties. The settlement retracted those allegations.
The settlement also said Cowle and Williams “vigorously disputed” the claims, and Cowle disputed them again in a phone call Friday: “I never violated federal law in my life.”
At Sheep Creek, Cowle said samples show valuable minerals, “rare earths,” used in everything from iPhones to electric vehicles are present in significant concentrations. He said exploratory drilling would indicate whether materials underground match the surface.
“China controls 90 percent of the rare earths, so the U.S. pretty much has kind of a foot on our neck from China,” Cowle said.
He said in the next couple of months, the company plans to submit a plan of operation, which would include a drill permit, to the Forest Service for consideration, although it is delayed in doing so.
In a news release outlining the conservation groups’ opposition to the project, the Center for Biological Diversity said the company had said it would begin exploratory work this summer at 10 sites, including constructing new roads, building drill pads, and drilling 700-foot holes.
Cowle said the company intends to apply for an exploration permit, as it has done the last couple years, to continue less intensive sampling this summer, and submit a plan for heavier work in the next couple of months.
So far, the company has sampled 800 acres, he said, or roughly 25% of the site.
“We’re now ready to submit a plan of operation,” Cowle said. “And the plan of operation may say we want to put a road here or chop some trees down, and eventually, drill in about 12 locations, which we have to identify.”
Cowle said the company hopes to eventually engage in a joint venture with or sale to a mining company. However, he also said he understands the project faces intense criticism and scrutiny.
“It’s obviously a very sensitive thing,” Cowle said. “The Forest Service, I know the pressure they’re under from the residents, and we respect that. So we may not get approved at all.”
In the letter to the Forest Service, the conservation groups said U.S. Critical Materials has “stymied ability for the public to stay informed” and also contributed to public distrust of the company.
On Jan. 23, 2024, the company posted an article on its website called, “Exploration program and plan of operations 2024,” said the letter from the conservation groups. It quoted the article:
“Re-opening old forest roads and constructing new access roads, building drill-pads, and the impacts to forest well-being that could result from these activities will require review and permission by U.S. Forest Service in conjunction with the State of Montana Department of Environmental Quality.”
But the Center for Biological Diversity said the document disappeared: “A few days later, the article was abruptly taken down.”
Cowle could not explain the reason the document was unavailable on the company’s website. He responded to the comment that Sheep Creek is likely the worst location for a mine.
“If that is the fact, then we won’t get approved,” Cowle said.
At this point, the conservation groups said more information is needed, and they are asking the Forest Service to provide more details about the project and eschew any exemptions when it comes to environmental reviews.
“The Forest Service needs to take a hard look at the irreversible damage mining near the headwaters of the Bitterroot River could do to this fragile ecosystem and the plants and animals that depend on it,” said Kristine Akland, Northern Rockies director for the Center for Biological Diversity, in a statement.
“This is not a place to put a mine, and we’ll do everything we can to block bulldozers from destroying this beautiful biodiversity hotspot.”
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