The three largest known mineable deposits of rare earths in the United States are at Mountain Pass, California (pictured), the Bokan Mountains in Alaska, and the Bear Lodge Mountains in Wyoming. Courtesy/Clean Water Alliance
Public meetings held on mine near Devils Tower
Mine is opposed by Rosebud Sioux Tribe
By Talli Nauman
Native Sun News
Health & Environment Editor SUNDANCE, Wyoming -- Vancouver, Canada-based Rare Element Resources Ltd. held public information meetings July 23 and 24, revealing the company intends to dig not just one open pit, but two, in a strip mining operation “adamantly opposed” by the Rosebud Sioux Tribe near Devils Tower in the Black Hills National Forest. More than 20 Northern Plains tribes have cultural affiliation to Devils Tower and its environs in the Bear Lodge Ranger District, according to historical documentation collected by the U.S. National Park Service, which has been in charge of protecting the Native American sacred site since President Theodore Roosevelt declared the 1,267-foot volcanic rock monolith the country’s first national monument in 1906. “To maximize the return on our drilling investment, we will focus on Whitetail Ridge, where we have the potential to add more than one million tons of HREO-enriched material to the Bear Lodge resource with 10,000 feet of drilling,” Vice President of Exploration James Clark announced in a news release prior to the meetings in Upton and Sundance, Wyoming. HREO is heavy rare earth oxide. Previously, the company had proposed to mine only one pit at Bull Hill in the Bear Lodge Mountains 12 miles northwest of Sundance. Whitetail Ridge is located nearby. The largest pit would be a mile long and one-half-mile wide. The other would be smaller. Altogether, some 600 acres would be disturbed in the so-called Bear Lodge Project. Associated gold mining opportunities are present at the so-called Sundance Project, also located at the Bull Hill site. Recent finds have increased the life expectancy of the project from 15 to 40 years. “Our understanding of the geology at Bear Lodge has grown significantly over the last two years,” Clark said. The company began development drilling this year to prove anticipated reserves established by exploration begun in 2004. Rare earths are used in electronics, fiber optics, laser systems for health and defense, as well as green technologies, like hybrid cars, solar panels and wind turbines. Meanwhile, the state of Wyoming would respond to mine permit applications from the company, which also involve public comment periods and typically take about a year, officials said. The identification of traditional cultural properties would be addressed through formal, government-to-government consultation processes to be initiated by the Forest Service and the tribal historical preservation offices, according to a corporate consultant’s 278-page Technical Report on the Mineral Reserves and Resources and Development of the Bull Hill Mine. The document, produced by Ore Reserves Engineering in Lakewood, Colorado, was most recently amended on June 26, mentioning the word preservation in only one paragraph. The Forest Service and the Wyoming State Historical Preservation Office have noted that the project area contains cultural resources that are either “‘eligible or potentially eligible” for the National Register of Historic Places. Parts of the project area have not been surveyed for cultural resources. Rosebud Historic Preservation Officer Russell Eagle Bear warned that the federal and state governments will be held responsible if the laws protecting American Indian religious, cultural and historic rights are not followed in the mining development process. “Lack of cultural sensitivity and surveying of those areas for cultural resources that may be present and impacted by this type of activity is unwarranted and demonstrates negligence on behalf of the Forest Service and the State of Wyoming,” he said. "The Rosebud Sioux Tribe is adamantly opposed to any exploration, drilling, fracking, or extraction of uranium, rare earth and other resources from within the ancestral homelands of the Lakota Nation where the current project is located,” Eagle Bear told the Native Sun News. Participants in the public meetings expressed concern for water and radiation from the proposed mining. Water is listed under “other important considerations”, in the project’s economic assessment, conducted by the Denver-based technical consultant John T. Boyd Co. “Ground water is the most likely large water source near the Bear Lodge Project. The Minnelusa and Madison aquifers … may be able to supply several hundred gallons per minute for the project,” according to the project consultant’s report. “Additionally, these water sources are currently utilized for domestic water supply for nearby populations,” it says. The U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers will take part in permitting if surface water is an issue. Miller Creek and Warren Peak Road are under consideration for haul-roads. The ore would be crushed at the mine site, located in Crook County, then shipped to adjacent Weston County for chemical treatment including the extraction of thorium to be sent to a facility in Utah, presenters said. The company is experimenting with technology for the rock crushing. The company would deposit the uranium in a tailings pile, since the radioactive mineral is not concentrated enough to market, they said. The buffer zone for an old nuclear reactor is within 1,000 feet of the project site, and no mining or blasting is allowed near the reactor, due to safety concerns. Tribes officially listed with historical and geographical ties to the Devils Tower area include: Arapaho, Cheyenne, Crow, Kiowa, Lakota and Shoshone. In native languages, many of the names for the striking formation refer to a bear’s lodge, according to the park service. It is known by the by the Arapaho as “Bear's Tipi”, by the Cheyenne as Na Kovehe or “Bear's Lodge”, by the Kiowa as Tso-i-e, or “Standing on a Rock”, by the Lakota as Mato Tipila or “Bear Lodge”, and by the Eastern Shoshone as “Bear's House." The tower plays a role in the their cultures as well as in those of the Assiniboine, Blackfeet, Blood, Dakota, Kootenai & Salish, Pigeon, Three Affiliated Tribes, and Turtle Mountain Chippewa. (Contact Talli Nauman at talli.nauman@gmail.com) Copyright permission by Native Sun News
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