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Category Project Scope & Mining Methods

When Will Mine Construction Begin?

In 2020 the Mine Operating Permit (MOP) for Black Butte Copper  was issued by the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and the company set in place a reclamation bond for the first phase of a two-phase development process. Construction under the Phase 1 development plan began in August of 2020 and surface work commenced with a few Phase 1 projects left to be completed..  Phase 2 development will occur after all legal challenges to the project are resoluved and the Board gives the green light to go forward.  Completion of mine construction will take approximately 24 months.

Will This Be An Underground Mine?

Yes, Black Butte Copper involves only underground mine accessed by a tunnel well outside the Sheep Creek Valley.   One of the three vent raises needed for air circulation underground will serve as a secondary escapeway.  There will never be any mining from an “open pit”, dramatically reducing our environmental footprint and ensuring continuation of historical uses of the land including cattle grazing and outdoor recreation.

Black Butte Copper  will always be an underground mine for the following reasons:

  1. We have long term contractual agreements with the rancher landowners that there will never be any open pit mining on their property.
  2. We have signed an agreement with our Meagher County Stewardship Council that there will never be any open pit mining within the six townships that include Black Butte Copper.
  3. These types of copper deposits are best accessed underground as they are very deep.
  4. It is the philosophy of our company that only underground mining fits this environment to properly protect it.

How Will The Tunnel Be Built?

The underground mine tunnel entrance will be well outside of the Sheep Creek Valley and will form the main haulage way for equipment and workers between the surface and the underground mine development. It will be developed using the drill and blast method. Drill jumbos (underground mechanized drilling machines) will drill 1.75in diameter holes which will be loaded with explosives and then blasted. The broken rock (called muck) will be removed, the roof will be stabilized by bolting, and then the process will begin again. Each cycle advances the decline approximately 14 feet. As currently planned, the decline will be approximately 17ft X 17ft.

What Are Mine Tailings?

Once the mined rock is taken from a mine, it is ground to a fine powder in a mill located onsite. There, the copper mineral (chalcopyrite) is separated from the remainder of the rock into a concentrate for shipping. The remaining finely ground rock is called tailings.

How big will the Black Butte Copper Project be underground?

Mining of the Johnny Lee deposit requires only a small underground operation by modern standards. The upper zone ranges from 150 feet to 600 feet deep and is 3,000 feet long in a north south direction, and 1500 feet wide in an east west direction. The Johnny Lee lower zone lies 1500 feet below the bottom of the Sheep Creek Valley, and gently rises to a depth of 1100 feet on its western end and is 3,000 feet long in an east-west direction and up to 500 feet wide in a north south direction. The surface opening (portal) for the 5,000-foot long access tunnel for the Johnny Lee deposit will lay on the south side of Sawmill Hill, well outside the Sheep Creek Valley, and is about 200 feet above the water table. Though relatively small, the high-grade Johnny Lee deposit contains just under one billion pounds of copper.

What method of mining will be used underground?

The mining method contemplated in the PEA is called both “cut and fill” or “drift and fill”, which means that part of the deposit will be mined out (cut) and paste backfill non-mineralized rock will be placed in that opening (fill). This greatly reduces the amount of tailings that are stored at surface level as approximately half of the tailings will be placed back underground as paste backfill. Sandfire is evaluating various scenarios to minimize the amount of tailings to be stored at surface.Read More

What Other Minerals Might Be Mined?

Besides copper, the Johnny Lee deposit hosts important quantities of both cobalt and silver. Further metallurgical testing will determine whether we can recover these economically. There is a small amount of gold in the Johnny Lee lower zone, but not enough to be economically viable.

Tintina Montana Inc. – Black Butte Copper Project’s Innovative Mine Operating Permit Application Submitted

White Sulphur Springs, MT,– December 16, 2015 – Tintina Montana Inc. (“Tintina” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce submission of a Mine Operating Permit (“MOP”) application for the Johnny Lee copper deposit for its Black Butte Copper Project to the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (“DEQ”). The application is a comprehensive document detailing the operating plan for one of the highest grade copper developments currently underway in the world.  Read More

Why Will We Not Repeat The Mistakes Of The Past?

The mistakes of the past, which result in the unfortunate legacy issues people know from historic mining areas, reflect the past lack of knowledge and understanding of the long-term impacts on water of various discharges. A great many of today’s standard practices were not available to our predecessors; they simply didn’t have the scientific research results nor technology now available to us. This lack of knowledge and foresight also resulted in insufficient bonding amounts. Many legacy issues in Montana are related to open pit mines with much larger volumes of rock, huge waste piles and unlined tailings disposal facilities located directly in waterways. At Black Butte Copper, we have looked at every legacy issue that has occurred and initiated a solution to make sure that our environment is protected so that those issues cannot happen here.

Proactive initiatives include:

  • In order to keep water from leaving the mine and mixing with creek water, all planned openings or entry points to the mine (including air ventilation and escape routes) are located far above the water table and the tunnel entry location was specifically chosen because it is almost 200 feet above the water level. Water cannot run uphill out of the mine so nothing can ever drain/flow out of the mine. This ensures that legacy accidents cannot happen again.
  • All ground water from the mine and surface water from precipitation will be collected, monitored, tested, and treated before being placed back into the ground water system through an underground infiltration system buried 6-8 ft. below the surface. There is zero discharge to surface waters.
  • A reverse osmosis (RO) water treatment plant will be constructed on-site for the duration of the mining operation and will remain there for as long as it’s needed.

Additionally, the Johnny Lee deposit is completely encased by rocks having a high concentration of carbonate, which acts as a buffering (or neutralizing) agent against acid. In our intensive test work, these minerals have successfully neutralized the acidity that has been produced by sulfide oxidation. Sandfire is taking every measure to minimize acid production, and the large volumes of carbonate in the mined rock and its host rocks are expected to be a great help in managing potentially acid generating rock (PAG). Mine operations around the world developed in carbonate host rocks are very successful in protecting the environment.

Sandfire takes protecting all the water resources incredibly seriously. Montana law requires that in order to secure a MOP, neither water QUALITY nor QUANTITY can be degraded.