The Mine’s history and the curse of Midas.

As long as there is gold, or, in this case, copper and silver, someone will come up with a scheme to get their hands on it. The Rock Creek Mine has a long and checkered history, with one company after another reviewing and passing on the project. Here, is a brief account of the long history of the Rock Creek Mine.

Bear Creek (Kennecott) Minerals discovered the ore body beneath the Cabinet Mountains in 1963. When the Wilderness Act was being written into law, mining interests demanded that pre-existing mining claims be grandfathered into areas that were destined to be wilderness and that they be allowed a twenty year window (until 1983) to file additional claims. The Cabinets suffered from this short-sighted compromise. When the ecosystem became one of the first ten areas included in the Wilderness Act of 1964, accompanying the protections afforded by wilderness designation were mining claims that continue to haunt the region.

The claims lay dormant until being acquired by ASARCO, and in 1979 the company began mineral exploration. In 1999, after 20 years of almost continuous technical and legal problems, ASARCO sold its interests in the claims to Sterling Mining Company. Sterling subsequently changed its name to Revettt Minerals in 2003.

Whether it is Bear Creek Minerals, ASARCO, Sterling Mining Co., or Revett Minerals seeking to mine beneath the Cabinets, extreme impacts to the wilderness, its wildlife, and the region’s water will always be the price of developing the Rock Creek Mine.