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Silver Bow Mining outlines exploration plan for Rainbow Block, tells commissioners company is bonded for reclamation
Summary
Silver Bow Mining told Butte Silver Bow commissioners it plans surface and underground exploration on roughly 4,100 acres of the Rainbow Block, has acquired Ferry Lane properties, and is bonded for exploration reclamation; commissioners pressed the company on community impacts, waste rock storage and watershed controls.
Doug Stiles, a representative of Silver Bow Mining Corporation, told the Butte Silver Bow Council of Commissioners on June 10 that the company is conducting surface and underground exploration on what it described as the Rainbow Block and nearby holdings.
"My name is Doug Stiles. I am with Silver Bow Mining," Stiles said in opening his presentation, and he later said the company became publicly traded in late April. He said the firm's reported mineral resource sits "above the water table" and targets primarily zinc and silver with some gold and lead, and that the company holds roughly 4,100 acres of mineral rights in the Rainbow Block plus about 1,100 acres of private land near the Badger and Missoula sites.
Stiles described current work as permitted exploration under Montana Department of Environmental Quality rules. He said Silver Bow is conducting surface core drilling at the Badger area and has a permitted area at the Missoula site where it plans day-only drilling. He described plans to rehabilitate the Chief Joseph portal at the Badger site, extend declines to about the 200–300-foot level and drive exploration drifts to define vein geometry over the next several months.
Commissioners questioned Stiles about possible impacts to nearby neighborhoods. Chair Morgan asked what residents in Walkerville would see or hear; Stiles said the company is "trying to avoid... Walkerville, avoid residences as much as we can," that haul trucks should use the haul road, and that the company is using visual buffers such as hay-bale fencing to reduce visibility and noise.
Commissioner Callahan asked whether Silver Bow acquired Ferry Lane; Stiles confirmed the company acquired Ferry Lane's mineral rights and surface land as part of the transaction and said Ferry Lane now operates as part of a wholly owned subsidiary arrangement under Silver Bow. Callahan and others referenced prior surface core drilling and historic Anaconda records; Stiles said the company's current resource estimate relies heavily on archived, digitized Anaconda sampling and stope records being used to build 3-D geologic models.
On environmental and reclamation questions, Stiles said Silver Bow's current exploration work is fully bonded and that reclamation funds would be available if operators ceased activity. He outlined that additional bonding and more detailed environmental and economic assessments would be required before any mine operating permit could be authorized under Montana rules.
Commissioners also pressed the company on waste rock management and watershed issues. Stiles said exploration waste rock is being placed on land the company owns east of the Rainbow Block near Badger and characterized the Badger area as lying within the Berkeley Pit capture zone; he said the parcels appear porous and that the company had not observed overland runoff from current exploration staging, while acknowledging that a future mine-permit scale development would require a much more extensive permitting, bonding and environmental review.
Stiles said the company aims to hire local contractors and staff where possible and offered to return with additional updates. The presentation concluded with the council placing the communication on file by motion.
