The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“It’s an environmentally messy affair”
By Katherine Nettles
A new study published last month by a Colorado nonprofit research organization has raised the question of whether global politics might drive interest in mining for rare earth minerals at a well-known deposit near Powderhorn within Gunnison County. The study is still in the early stages of distribution, and major entities such as Gunnison County commissioners have not yet had a chance to fully consider it.
Luke Danielson, president of Sustainable Development Strategies Group (SDSG) and Western Colorado University graduate student Olivia Nau are the co-authors of the study.
The mineral deposit, called Iron Hill, has been studied by many geologists and mining companies since it was discovered by railroad companies in the 1880s looking for iron to build their lines, according to a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) report from 2009.
“It’s a famous deposit if you’re a geologist,” says Danielson. “It’s an unusual formation.”
True to its namesake, there is a large deposit of iron there, and researchers have subsequently discovered titanium, which Danielson says would make iron hard to process but is used in white pigments like paint. Early railroad interest in iron gave way to other geological studies for other potential mines from the 1950s through 1990s, because the deposit contains large amounts of rare earth minerals used in modern technology and the largest exposed carbonatite deposit in the United States. “Iron Hill has been looked at for a variety of minerals,” says Danielson.
International mining company Teck Resources purchased the mine in 1990 from another mining company and holds ownership to the mining claims there. USGS records show that Teck has explored the contents of the site, but Iron Hill has never been developed.
Danielson and Nau suggest the site has not been developed because its ore concentrations are lower than some ‘premier’ mines and the costs are high to develop mining infrastructure, to concentrate the material and ship it out for processing.
The Crested Butte News reached out to Teck but the company did not respond; they declined to comment for the study as well.
A mine there would be subject to significant regulatory review, the study notes, “but that may be changing. In response to what we believe to be unfounded concerns over ‘permitting delays’ and the need to secure critical mineral supply chains, both the U.S. Congress and the executive branch have moved to revise the environmental review system,” it asserts. “This process has gone forward under both the first and second Trump administrations and the Biden administration.”
Danielson says SDSG is doing a whole series of rare earth studies based on global interest in diversifying the supply chain away from China where most mining, processing and refining occurs. SDSG studies include Ukraine, with whom Danielson notes the Trump administration negotiated a minerals deal with in exchange for support, and rare earth minerals deposits in Greenland. “Those are bigger studies,” acknowledges Danielson. But at some other researchers’ suggestions, “We also decided to turn the lens on their own country.”
There is no current processing facility for rare earth elements in the U.S. although the Trump administration signaled in January that it intends to invest $1.6 billion into an Oklahoma-based company working to build a rare earth mine and supply chain on U.S. soil. A rare earth element mine in Texas is also under construction and expected to be operational in 2028.
“It’s an environmentally messy affair,” Danielson says, “because rare earth minerals occur with thorium, which is radioactive. So they are not only toxic, but also radioactive.”
Among the uses for these minerals, Danielson says, are electric vehicles, wind turbines, electronics, military and defense technologies and small but powerful magnets used in cell phones.
Danielson says the study concluded that mineral extraction at Iron Hill would likely require an open-pit mine, a great deal of water and energy use, and produce radioactive waste. The minerals would have to be minimally processed on or near the site to concentrate it, then it would have to be transported to Montrose and likely then to a processing plant elsewhere.
“The issue is that in the current political climate there is a lot of pressure to get access to rare earth minerals,” says Danielson. “A large amount of federal money is being thrown at this problem, and subsidizing attempts to get rare earth mines here in the U.S.”
Danielson said the hope is to inform local and regional stakeholders, but the report makes it clear it is not suggesting the possibility of mining at Iron Hill is by any means imminent.
Gunnison County commissioner Jonathan Houck spoke with the Crested Butte News about the prospect of a new mine in the county.
“It has been common knowledge that significant rare earth and titanium deposits are located in the Powderhorn area,” he said. “As of this time, Gunnison County has not been provided a copy of the report you received and referenced. Currently, we have no active applications for permits for mining activities in that area. That said, I can assure folks that we have regulations and tools in place to address mining on both private and public lands in Gunnison County and for major impacts there are significant opportunities for public input.”
The report does not predict whether mining will happen and concludes it does not support nor oppose such development. “Its purpose is to raise awareness among local and regional stakeholders about possible future developments and their effects on the region,” according to a press release accompanying the final draft.
“We wanted to get the information out on the table,” says Danielson.
The report can be found at https://tinyurl.com/yjcvrbye.
