The Hecla Mining Company wants to know how much copper and silver ore exists at an old mining site 20 miles south of the town of Libby.

The Libby Exploration Project, formerly referred to as the Montanore Mine, would explore a mine shaft dug under the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness in the 1980s. Hecla acquired the site in 2016.

On a recent tour for locals, Hecla’s Director of Environmental Operations Marty Stearns said the exploration would not further disturb the surface area.

“We have 11.6 acres disturbed here. This project will disturb no more. And that’s, this is all private land, privately owned. So the only thing that’s happening under Forest Service is it’s all underground,” Stearns said.

Half of the mine shaft, called an adit, is currently underwater. Hecla’s project would dewate

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