THE BITTERROOT RIVER NEEDS YOUR HELP RIGHT NOW!
The greatest threat to the the health and vitality of the Bitterroot River currently is the prospect of a Rare Earth Element mine in the headwaters of the West Fork of the Bitterroot River in the Sheep Creek and Johnson Creek drainages. The threat first emerged in 2022 and the clouds have simply been growing larger and darker as time passes. If we wait until the storm breaks it may well be too late.
BRPA has already taken action. We began taking water and soil samples on Sheep Creek, Johnson Creek and the West Fork of the river in the fall of 2024 and continued the sampling this spring. We hope to continue through the summer and into the fall of 2025 in order to establish a baseline for water quality prior to any drilling.
Establishing a baseline prior to any ground breaking activity is important. It serves as a foundation for continued monitoring in the area if the mining activity should proceed and may be used to identify any negative impacts related to the mining project at an early stage so that these impacts may be mitigated or eliminated as the mining proceeds.
This will benefit the public by protecting the headwater streams, the West Fork and the Mainstem of the Bitterroot River from potential contamination by toxic metals (including potential radioactive contamination) and nutrients associated with REE mining operations. This, in turn will help protect not only the aquatic life and fisheries of the streams and the river in the upper West Fork but all the economic, recreational, and social values associated with the use of those waters.
But laboratory analysis for nutrients and metals is expensive. We currently lack the funds to complete the planned sampling project this summer. If you can afford to donate to this project the time to do so is now!
HISTORY OF THE CLAIMS AND THE NATURE OF THE THREAT
Since 2022, U. S. Critical Materials has annually filed a Notice of Intent to conduct hand sampling of its claims in the area. The proposed arera of operation encompasses 336 lode claims representing approximately 10 square miles of total land package and the company asserts that initial exploration activities have identified more than 50 carbonatite dikes in the Sheep Creek district. The claims are on multiple-use ground administered by the U.S. Forest Service.
The company has filed a Notice of Intent to conduct hand sampling int he area annually since 2022. The results have shown the presence of neodymium and praseodymium as well as cerium, dysprosium, europium, gadolinium, lanthanum, niobium, scandium, strontium, samarium, and gallium. Important ore minerals include ancylite, allanite, low-thorium monazite, and columbite.
According to the Harvard International Review there are two primary methods for REE mining, both of which release toxic chemicals into the environment. Both methods produce mountains of toxic waste, with high risk of environmental and health hazards. For every ton of rare earth produced, the mining process yields 13kg of dust, 9,600-12,000 cubic meters of waste gas, 75 cubic meters of wastewater, and one ton of radioactive residue. This stems from the fact that rare earth element ores have metals that, when mixed with leaching pond chemicals, contaminate air, water, and soil. Most worrying is that rare earth ores are often laced with radioactive thorium and uranium, which result in especially detrimental health effects. Overall, for every ton of rare earth, 2,000 tons of toxic waste are produced. According to the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy Regional ecosystems can be significantly altered by the presence of mines, both physically and chemically. Site preparation, access roads, and ancillary facilities lead to direct—and often absolute— destruction of the proximate environment, while pollution from mine processes and storage of residual tailings can lead to widespread chemical imbalances and toxic contamination.
REE mine tailings contain processing chemicals, salts, and radioactive materials. Tailings are particularly problematic in REE mining, because of the significant waste-to-yield ration. (Filho 2016; Xiang 2016). For every ton of REEs that are produced, there are 2,000 tons of mine tailings, including 1 to 1.4 tons of radioactive waste. Tailings are most commonly stored in isolated impoundment areas called tailing ponds. These ponds require complex management, especially if the tailings contain high concentrations of uranium or thorium. Poor construction or catastrophic failure can lead to long-term and widespread environmental damage and contamination of surface or groundwater (Filho 2016).
Other significant sources of pollution include aerosols and fugitive dust from tailing impoundments, which are created from cutting, drilling, and blasting rock. This pollution can accumulate in surrounding areas (Filho 2016), causing respiratory issues and also contaminating food sources—as plants absorb the airborne pollutants.
To top things off, it is well documented that a significant amount of the mineral actinolite is intimately associated with the minerals USCM would be targeting. Actinolite can be asbestiform in a class known as amphibole asbestos, which is even more toxic than the more usual type of asbestos. In 1960 it was first reported that Sheep creek actinolite “forms masses of radiating fibers surrounding other crystals”. Tremolite, closely related to actinolite which has killed hundreds of people in and around Libby, is an amphibole asbestos. Dust containing amphibole asbestos can travel far and wide and is very difficult to ever clean up. Prevention is the only solution. Drilling exploration is dusty business.
Based on its preliminary examination of samples gathered with pick and shovel the company has made audacious claims about the mining potential in the area stating on its website that “We have confirmed that Sheep Creek is the highest-grade rare earth deposit in the United States, with a multibillion-dollar resource value.” They have announced in 2023, 2024 and again in 2025 their intent to submit a Plan of Operation for drilling and exploratory mining but have to date failed to do so. They have once again announced their intention to do so this fall.
Once a plan of operation is filed there may be little time for public involvement in response due to recent adoption of expedited permitting processes by the Trump administration.
Phillip Ramsey a scientists with experience in the Super Fund recovery efforts on the Upper Clark Fork due to past mining and founder of the Bitterroot Clean Water Alliance warns that there’s a high probability that mining the Sheep Creek claims will eventually include a large open-pit mine. According to Ramsey, “Every profitable rare-earth element mine is an open-pit mine, and they’ve all had radioactive leaks.”
Great video and interview concerning the implications of a mine at the headwaters of the Bitterroot River with Philip Ramsey who has studied mine reclamation. Click HERE
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BRPA
P.O. Box 8
Stevensville, MT 59870
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