Canadian mining company wants to explore Idaho's backcountry near Idaho City | Local News | Idaho Statesman
A Canadian mining company's search for copper and molybdenum in the Boise Basin was so promising that it wants to learn more.
So Mosquito Consolidated Gold Mines Limited has returned to the U.S. Forest Service and asked for permits to drill 260 exploratory holes and construct 10 to 13 miles of new temporary access roads in 2,848 acres of the Grimes Pass backcountry, 14 miles north of Idaho City.
That has environmentalists worried that the latest drilling program is a precursor for the building of a massive open pit mine that could threaten the quality of the Boise River.
The Forest Service has analyzed the relatively minor impacts of the drilling and road-building project and has asked the public for comments. But environmentalists say it isn't enough.
They want the agency to conduct a more thorough and costly environmental impact statement that looks at the potential impacts of a fully developed mine as well as the exploratory drilling. Mosquito officials say such a study is premature.
"We have to analyze the entire picture (first) so we know so there aren't surprises," said Shaun Dykes, Mosquito's project manager.
Drilling from 2006 to 2008, the company found what it estimated as 1.8 billion pounds of molybdenum oxide, 2.1 billion pounds of copper, 90 million ounces of silver and 123 million pounds of tungsten.
Molybdenum is a metal used to improve the strength of steel and other alloys to enhance durability for construction and manufacturing. The company calls the deposit "one of the world's largest, strategic stores of mineral wealth," and that's what worries Jessica Ruehrwein of the Sierra Club in Boise.
"This could completely change the landscape and the character of the land around Pioneerville and Centerville and the entire Boise River watershed," Ruehrwein said.
It was in the Boise Basin that Idaho's mining past was forged in the 1860s. Millions of dollars of gold and silver were dug and sifted out of the region until mining all but ended in the 1930s.
This mine could create a new, long-term economic opportunity for rural Boise County and Idaho City. A molybdenum mine near Challis has been in operation for more than 25 years, providing hundreds of high-paying jobs and demand for local suppliers.
But the meetings and environmental review are only aimed at the exploration program, said Idaho City District Ranger Barbara Levesque.
"Any further proposals from this company regarding additional operations, or mine development, would be analyzed in a separate analysis," she said.
The major concern is that a large open-pit mine could open up heavy-metal minerals and sulfides that cause acidic runoff, which could threaten the Boise River - a drinking water source for thousands of people throughout the Treasure Valley. Drilling so far has not revealed the minerals that cause acid mine runoff, Dykes said.
But that's one of the reasons the company wants to expand its exploratory drilling. It wants to gather all the information to determine what areas to avoid and where the best areas are to mine, he said.
"It could be an underground mine at the end of the day," Dykes said. "There may be something that won't allow us to have an open pit mine."
But Ruehrwein is skeptical.
"The history of mining is not pretty and the track record shows, I think, it would be unlikely they could operate without impacting the area significantly," she said.
Rocky Barker: 377-6484
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