Comment letters due by end of the month

The gathering in a Western State College ballroom Tuesday evening was like old times, with plenty of familiar faces discussing a familiar topic. Read More »

How safe is the water?

U.S. Energy Corp. will be meeting Friday with representatives from the state’s Water Quality Control Division to get some clarification of the state’s pollution concerns. The mining company responded last week to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment over concerns Coal Creek is being polluted with heavy metals from the mine on Mt. Emmons. Read More »

Drift could start this summer

The state last week rejected an appeal by the High Country Citizens’ Alliance to overturn a decision approving a proposal for additional prospecting at the proposed Mt. Emmons molybdenum mine. With a 4-1 vote, the Colorado Mined Reclamation Board agreed to allow a new mine tunnel, or drift, to be constructed as part of the proposed prospecting activities by the Mt. Emmons Moly Company (MEMCO). The original decision was approved by the Colorado Division of Reclamation and Mining Safety (DRMS). Read More »

Things aren’t slowing down any on the mountain that rises above the town. If you care either way about a mine just west Crested Butte, be aware things are moving along at a pretty good clip. I suppose when you start talking billions of dollars, people pay attention and keep moving toward that pot of gold. That’s to be expected.
I really don’t want to write about the mine. I don’t really want to think about the mine. I don’t want to think about what appeared to be something closer to rain on a Monday afternoon in January than snow. But while the temperatures will drop at some point, the mine this week feels like a juggernaut.
There are three stories in the paper this week concerning the possible molybdenum mine on Mt. Emmons. The state brushed aside an appeal by HCCA, and the mining company will be allowed to dig a new tunnel to the kabillion dollar moly deposit. The mine owners sent a nine-page response on why the heavy metals charted the last couple of years in Coal Creek on Mt. Emmons aren’t really a problem for the company. They’ll sit down with state reps on Friday. And then there is a preview of the two upcoming meetings concerning the mine. The meetings are “informational” and put on by the Forest Service. I get a feeling the Forest Service wants a chance to explain ahead of time why they can’t say no to the next step (baseline studies) in a mine above Crested Butte. Can you say lots of helicopters?
Like it or not… and most people up here don’t like it… if there is $10 billion in moly beneath Red Lady, the juggernaut isn’t going to just fade away. I guess this is simply an awareness update. In sports terms, it was a good week for the visiting team.

Things aren’t stopping.
Thompson Creek paid another million bucks to U.S. Energy just a few weeks ago for the chance to keep investigating how to dig out the ore. Last week, the state said go ahead and dig a new drift. The mine company this week said while there are indeed heavy metals coming off the mountain, it isn’t their responsibility and if you measure it differently, it isn’t so bad. The Forest Service next week appears ready to explain why baseline studies have to be okayed to find the best places for a mill and other mine facilities.
I’m just saying… things are moving at a pretty good clip.
By the way, the price of molybdenum oxide closed early this week at just over $17 a pound. According to Thompson Creek’s website, it is estimated there is more than 760 million pounds of high-grade molybdenum beneath Red Lady. You do the math and tell me why things would be slowing down.

Tuesday in Gunnison, Wednesday in Mt. Crested Butte

Two informational meetings concerning the proposed molybdenum mine on Mt. Emmons will be held by the U.S. Forest Service in the valley next week. The first will take place Tuesday, January 25 at the South Ballroom at the Western State College Student Center from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. On Wednesday, January 26, the meeting will be held in Mt. Crested Butte at the Lodge at Mountaineer Square Conference Center from 7 to 9:30 p.m.

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Town has “significant concerns…”

The first thing to know is that the town of Crested Butte drinking water is fine. Despite a state report showing a major pollution problem emanating from Mt. Emmons, you can drink the water from the tap. But there appears to be a huge pollution situation in the town’s watershed—in particular in Coal Creek. Water tests conducted on property owned by the proposed molybdenum mine on Mt. Emmons showed some huge spikes in poor water quality standards over the last couple of years.

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Mt. Emmons Moly Company confident they will prevail

The High Country Citizens’ Alliance will get a chance next month to make its case to the state that a new proposed tunnel under Mt. Emmons will be used for mining and is not simply “prospecting” as the mine company claims. HCCA asked the Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Board on December 15 to let them appeal a permit for a recently approved “drift” to be constructed. The board agreed to let them make their case. Read More »

A public meeting will be held in January

Given the sensitivity of anything having to do with a proposed Mt. Emmons molybdenum mine, the U.S. Forest Service is trying to cover every base with any proposal having to do with the project. As a result, the agency is asking for significant public input concerning a Plan of Operations (PoO) for Mt. Emmons Geotechnical Baseline Studies from U.S. Energy Corp. Written comments will be taken until January 31 of 2011 and a public community forum is tentatively slated to take place sometime in the middle of January in Crested Butte. The mine company would like to start the studies this coming summer. Read More »

New letter urges a creative approach to Whetstone

Despite a meeting room overflowing with people representing seemingly every user group with a stake in the public lands on Whetstone Mountain, the Gunnison Board of County Commissioners kept the discussion about a proposed letter in support of the Hidden Gems Wilderness proposal among themselves before approving it Tuesday with a split vote. Read More »

Disagreement over Whetstone not enough to sway county

With changes coming to Colorado’s congressional delegation, organizers of the Hidden Gems Wilderness campaign went to the Gunnison Board of County Commissioners on Tuesday, November 23 to make sure nothing had changed in the commissioners’ support of the plan to set aside some 35,000 acres of the county’s public lands as permanent designated Wilderness.

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