Last summer, a group of community members from Northwest Montana traveled to Washington, D.C., to discuss the Hecla Rock Creek and Montanore mining projects.

The group included Sanders County Commissioner Carol Brooker. One of their meetings was with U.S. Forest Service (USFS) Chief Tom Tidwell. The group expressed that appropriate staff was needed to continue with the permitting process on the projects.

This week, Hecla Montana announced that USFS has been moving forward with requests from the Washington, D.C., delegation. USFS has placed two geologists in Libby to work on the projects, according to Bruce Vincent of Libby, who traveled to Washington, D.C., with the group.

“The federal delegation has been keeping tabs and checking in,” Vincent said, “and the agencies are meeting timelines and putting resources in place.”

Vincent said the geologists are completing work on the Rock Creek permit, with the hopes of issuing the final Record of Decision (ROD) for Phase 1 Evaluation in March. Depending on that outcome, Vincent said that the operation phase of the Rock Creek mine could begin this summer.

Another request from the Washington, D.C., delegation was to have the Montanore project permitting process split into phases, as was done with the Rock Creek project. Vincent said that the USFS agreed, and agencies including Fish & Wildlife Service and USFS are working on their analysis for Phase 1, exploration and evaluation. Vincent said the D.C. delegation asked for a phased approach so the information gathered in Phase 1 can be used in making decision for the operation phase of the project.

Vincent said the response from federal agencies and elected officials has been positive, with the agencies giving regular updates on progress.

“That kind of transparency is awesome,” Vincent said.

Hecla Montana said that they hope to hold public meetings in March to update residents on the status of the projects.