Company seeks to drill test holes in Beartooth Mountains
AP Feb 23
BOZEMAN, Mont. (AP) - A Canadian company wants to drill about 30 test holes high in the Beartooth Mountains to get a better look at platinum and rhodium deposits it has found there.
The holes would be drilled on the East Boulder Plateau between Big Timber and Nye.
The Stillwater Mining Co. operates two mines in the area and reportedly is the only producer of platinum and palladium in the United States.
The Beartooth Platinum Corp. has unpatented mining claims on about 16,000 acres surrounding the Stillwater holdings. It has been drilling in the area for a couple of years and wants to expand its work.
"It looks like we may have a parallel reef" of minerals, BPC President Mike Johnson told the Bozeman Daily Chronicle on Thursday from Toronto .
The company drilled 11 holes last year, and the results were promising, Johnson said. It would like to drill another 30 or so holes this summer.
The drilling would take place on both the Gallatin and Custer national forests.
Dan Seifert, a Custer geologist, said Thursday that BPC has a good track record.
"They end up being a pretty tight operation," he said. "We haven't had any problems the last couple years."
The U.S. Forest Service is seeking public comment on the drilling proposal. The agency would require that drilling take place well away from streams, and that crews follow all food storage and garbage handling rules to avoid problems with grizzly bears.
Drilling rigs would be flown to the sites by helicopters, and no new roads will be built. All drilled areas would be reclaimed immediately.
Johnson said it could take five or more years to tell if the deposits are economically recoverable, and added that it took 20 years of preparation before Stillwater began production.
"The geology is quite complex up there," he said.
If the deposits appear to be profitable, BPC likely would sell the project to a larger company, Johnson said.
In addition to platinum , the company has uncovered significant amounts of rhodium, an expensive metal used mostly to harden alloys but that also has jewelry applications.
Forest Service officials aren't likely to write a formal environmental assessment, Seifert said. Instead, they probably will use an administrative mechanism known as a "categorical exclusion," because the impacts of the drilling "would be pretty minimal."
Drilling could start as early as May 1, and is expected to be completed by the end of the summer. Public comments are due by March 23.
Information from: Bozeman Daily Chronicle
