Many avid Smith River floaters know of the threat posed by the proposed Black Butte copper mine, but there are still a few who don’t have a clue. So Montana Trout Unlimited member Ezra Ginzberg has taken on the role of teacher.
DEQ takes legal action for mine reclamation funds
The struggle over who pays for the reclamation of a Lewistown-area mine has moved into the courts.
The CR Kendall Corporation filed for bankruptcy protection in November, but it has yet to finish restoration work on the CR Kendall Mine north of Lewistown in the North Moccasin Mountains. So last week, the Montana Department of Environmental Quality asked the court not to let the company out of an obligation to pay $6.2 million for the remainder of the mine reclamation.
Modern mining: Canada’s reckless mining legacy
Although the archaic 1872 Mining Act allows U.S. mining companies to get away with a lot, Canada’s laws are even worse when it comes to holding mining companies accountable. Tintina Resources is based in Canada. Not only that, but it’s based in British Columbia where an auditor general recently issued a report that slammed British Columbia’s mines monitoring and inspection program.
The “richest acre” is Camp Baker
For “Throwback Thursday” – a social-media thing where people post about things in the past – Tintina Resources posted a photo of a Montana historic-point sign informing travelers about the Smith River Valley. Tintina Resources loved that the sign says the Smith River Valley contained the “richest acre of ground in the world” if you were one of the 1960s gold-placer crowd.
While the claim is debatable – no source is given for the quote and the world is a pretty big place – the Smith River Valley does still contain a rich acre. That would be Camp Baker, where each year about 5,500 river lovers gather over the course of about seven months to launch on their own adventures of the Smith River.
Drink a beer for the Smith River
On May 22, head on over to the Ten Mile Creek Brewery at 48 N. Last Chance Gulch in Helena from 5-8 p.m. to get your Smith River pint glass and a beer for $10. Now’s the time to step up to help save the Smith and it’s not bad when you can get a beer to boot.
Modern mining? Company sell-outs
Let’s say – just hypothetically – that there was a mining company out there run by people who could guarantee that a small mine wouldn’t cause any environmental problems. This is obviously hypothetical because no such company or mine exists. If it did, it would be good, but there would be no guarantee that company would own the mine throughout its lifetime. In the world of capitalism, mining and fluctuating metal prices, mines often swap hands and nothing guarantees that the new owner will have the same priorities.