Throughout history, the demand for commodities has been constantly increasing. It is difficult to foresee a reversal of this trend. Between China and India alone, roughly 2 billion people are on the verge of becoming middle-class consumers. Good or bad, this is called progress, and it seems inevitable. No one wants to live in a mud hut if something better is available. Inhabitants of the developing world want to enjoy the same shiny gadgets that we take for granted here in the U.S.
The proposed Rock Creek mine, in the Cabinet Mountains of Montana, will supply silver and copper to industry and, eventually, the consumer. Even those who object to the coming mine probably use silver and copper on a daily basis. The mining industry is a service business, supplying commodities demanded by the consumer. The most ardent environmentalist would certainly agree that, without consumer demand, there would be no call for mining.
In particular, silver has a bright future because of the many new uses that have been found. It is ironic that many of these contemporary uses of silver directly benefit the environment — the same environment the supporters of the Rock Creek Alliance are trying to protect. These simpletons are evidently unaware of the many beneficial attributes silver has. Silver has long been known to deter the growth of harmful bacteria. Pioneers coming west in their covered wagons put a silver dollar on the bottom of their water barrels to keep the water fresh. Minute amounts of silver going into solution helped kill harmful bacteria that grew in the water barrel. Silver is only beginning to take on an important role in modern water purification.
Toxic, arsenic-bearing paints used on ocean-going ship hulls will soon be replaced by paints that contain silver. The silver ions prevent the hulls from being fouled by barnacles without the use of arsenic. Similarly, arsenic-bearing preservative solutions used on treated wood will soon be replaced by silver-bearing solutions, yielding a cleaner environment. The medical industry is also incorporating silver fibres into bandages, especially important with respect to burn victims. The silver can prevent deadly infections over large areas of the body where the skin has been destroyed. These are only several of the many new uses for silver — a vital commodity that is seeing a strong resurgence in demand.
Several legitimate concerns have been raised regarding the Rock Creek mine. Although these concerns have become a crisis only for the peanut gallery, they still deserve to be addressed. One concern is pollution of water by heavy metals. The Rock Creek ore contains native silver and copper-sulphide minerals. These will be removed, processed, and ultimately turned into useful products. The ore contains no significant lead, zinc, arsenic, . . . kryptonite, or bogeymen. The rock from which the metals have been mechanically liberated consists of pure sand. Both the ore and the crushed rock are environmentally benign.
A maximum of 3 million gallons of groundwater will come from the mine on a daily basis. This water will undergo two filtration processes. The first process will remove any nitrates from the water. The second process will remove any dissolved metals from the water. The purified water meets the discharge standards of both the Montana Department of Environmental Quality and the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality. It will be discharged into the Clark Fork River to mix with the average 12.5 billion gallons of water that pass by the mouth of Rock Creek on a daily basis. Yes, you read that right: 12.5 billion gallons daily is the average volume of the mighty Clark Fork River, near Rock Creek.
Another concern is acid mine drainage. For those unfamiliar with the rudiments of low-temperature aqueous geochemistry, a minimum threshold of about 6% sulphide minerals is necessary to sustain the chemical reaction that produces acid mine drainage. The Rock Creek ore contains an average of about 2% sulphide minerals. Therefore, acid mine drainage cannot occur at the Rock Creek mine.
Finally, for those who still question the veracity of the Environmental Impact Statement produced jointly by the U.S. Forest Service and the Montana Department of Fish and Wildlife after 16 years of study, there is the example of the nearby Troy mine. The ore at the Troy mine is identical to that of the Rock Creek ore. During a 12-year period (1981-1993), the Troy mine produced 390 million lbs. copper and 44 million oz. silver. The tie-dyed crackpots of that era sadly lamented the certain demise of nearby Lake Creek and the imminent pollution of the Kootenai River. Now, a quarter-century later, the Kootenai River remains breathtakingly beautiful and Lake Creek is still the blue-ribbon trout stream it always was.
The proposed Rock Creek mine poses no threat to the environment. The only real threat is ignorance.
— The author is a Spokane, Wash.-based geologist who has spent the past 25 years breaking rocks throughout the Western Hemisphere.
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