Copyright 2000 The Denver Post Corporation
The
Denver Post
May 10, 2000 Wednesday 2D EDITION
SECTION: BUSINESS; Pg. C-01
LENGTH: 698 words
HEADLINE:
Mine firm breaking new ground Stillwater works out deal with Montana citizens
BYLINE: By Kit Miniclier, Denver Post Staff Writer,
BODY:
Instead of facing a confrontation in the
courts, a Denver-based mining company has just negotiated a legally
binding contract with its citizen neighbors north of Yellowstone
National Park to protect the environment far beyond either state
and federal requirements.
In announcing the agreement
Tuesday, both sides agreed it was precedent-setting nationally and
made good sense locally, because it permits citizens to monitor mine
activities and inspect the mines and waste-treatment
facilities.
The Stillwater Mining Co. agreed to the deal, hammered
out over a year of negotiations and binding on any future owners
of the mining properties, 'because we felt it was best for
the company to go forward' and work with local communities, said
Chris Allen, who is vice president for environmental and
governmental affairs.
The agreement adds 'greater protection
for our natural resources and stabilizes our community,' said Jerry
Iverson, a sheep shearer by trade and one of the negotiators for
the Cottonwood Resource Council, a Big Timber, Mont.-area
citizens group. The company, which employs 900
people at its 14-year-old Stillwater Mine near Nye, Mont., and 300
contract employees developing the second mine, known as East Boulder,
near Big Timber, is in the middle of a $ 385 million expansion
program. Although the new mine will eventually have 600 employees,
the company agreed to the council's request to limit on-sight
parking to 35 spaces, thereby cutting highway congestion, dust and
air pollution, Iverson said. Employees will be bused in from town.
The company is also setting aside 3,000 acres of land
in conservation easements to protect it from future development
and has committed itself to new water-treatment and
waste-reduction technologies to achieve zero discharge of wastewater
and greatly reduce the need for giant tailings ponds.
At
present it is building two new tailings ponds, each of which cover
the equivalent of 90 football fields, according to the Northern
Plains Resources Council, which helped iron out the agreement.
'The signing of this agreement is a win-win situation for
all parties involved. We have set the stage for a long-term,
positive relationship' with local residents, said mining company
chairman Bill Nettles.
If the company mines about 3,000 tons
of ore each day for a year it would expect to harvest about 700,000
ounces of platinum and palladium annually. Production from one
producing mine is now about 2,000 tons of ore a day. The firm expects
to produce more than 1 million ounces of product a year when both
mines are in full production by 2003. Palladium, used in catalytic
converters, electronics and dentistry, and platinum sell for $ 500 to
$ 600 an ounce.
'There are many important issues, but overall, a big one
is just opening up public access to information to the
mining company's internal decision-making so we can try to
resolve problems,' said attorney Michael Reisner of the Northern
Plains Resource Council.
NPRC in a statement gave credit to
the company for having the 'courage to do something no other mining
company has done before.'
As part of the agreement, NPRC and Stillwater
Protective Association will withdraw their lawsuit against the
Montana Department of Environmental Quality. That lawsuit, while
not naming Stillwater Mining, alleged numerous failings by DEQ when
it issued a permit to expand the Stillwater mine.
Some of the
major conditions of the agreement:
A citizen oversight committee to
monitor implementation of the agreement and establish a process to
address new issues as they arise and citizen participation in
research and development.
Payment by the company of up to $ 270,000 over
the first two years of the agreement to cover costs of independent
scientific and technical consultants of the citizen groups. The
amount will be renegotiated after the first two years.
The
right to verify sampling of the wastewater stream, air and soils.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
GRAPHIC: The Denver Post Stillwater's Montana mines
(map)
LOAD-DATE: May 10, 2000
