Montana rejects Tintina’s mine permit application again

The Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) issued Thursday a “deficiency” notice to Tintina, which means aspects of the mine permit application need to be addressed or updated before the state begins environmental analysis for the firm’s Black Butte project.

The Vancouver-based miner originally submitted its application for a mining permit in December last year. Authorities responded in March 2016, outlining the need for complete data on geochemical and hydrology information.

The department’s most recent deficiency letter includes numerous comments, largely related to parts of the application that were missing or incomplete in the original submittal, DEQ said in a statement.

Tintina’s project is located north of White Sulphur Springs and it will employ pasted backfill underground and cemented tailings on the surface, which the company says is a more expensive feature than a traditional tailings pond and increases capital costs, but minimizes the overall footprint of its operations. The process leaves only 1-2% of the mine open at any time.

The company has also said it plans to use reverse osmosis to treat wastewater, which will be released into an underground filtration system.

Since the project is near Sheep Creek, which flows into the famed Smith River, environmentalists and other groups have raised concerns that Black Butte could alter water composition and quality in the tributary. The company refutes such claims.