The Lodestar Mine: Greycliff, Montana

In the 2005 session, CRC worked to pass HB 606, a bill which significantly shrunk the small miner loophole in state law and addresses the immediate risks posed by the Lodestar Gold Mine, and the Lodestar Mill site, near Greycliff, Sweet Grass County.

The Lodestar mill site qualifies for the small miner exemption, and therefore does not currently have an operating permit, or a reclamation bond with the Montana Department of Environmental Quality. The mine waste at the Lodestar mill site could potentially threaten water quality and neighboring landowners if it continues to go unregulated.

Holding small miners accountable by requiring reclamation bonding helps balance economic gain with social and environmental responsibility, and strives to protect Montana's water, land, air, and unique quality of life in order to pass them on, unimpaired, to future generations by reducing and preventing the potential negative effects of small miners' hard rock mining waste and its waste products.

HB 606 gives the DEQ to have more oversight over these small miner tailings impoundments, and requiring mining companies that operate small mines them to construct and manage them in a way that reduces or eliminates their threat to the environment. One of the new requirements is that small mines obtain a bond to cover their impoundment (in case they go bankrupt and taxpayers are left liable) and that they reclaim the impoundment after they are done mining.

In May, CRC wrote a letter to the DEQ asking them to begin enforcing the law, which went into effect immediately and gave existing companies that operate small mines with impoundments six months to comply.We have yet to receive a response.

If you are concerned about the Lodestar Mill Site, contact Warren McCulloch at Montana DEQ at 406.444.2544 and ask him what the DEQ's plan for Lodestar is.