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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.