HELENA — Near Avon in the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest, drilling equipment operates as part of the Blue Copper Project — a mineral exploration effort focused on copper and other minerals beneath a section of public land west of Helena.
Project lead Falcon Copper is proposing an expansion of those operations, while conservation groups are raising questions about how that growth could affect the area.
“The mission of Falcon Copper is to increase critical mineral supply chain resilience,” stated Falcon Copper chairman Travis Naugle.
“We’re concerned about wildlife impacts, recreational impacts, and we’re very concerned about water quality and water quantity impacts,” said Helena Hunters and Anglers president Steve Platt.
According to Falcon Copper representatives, the original project includes 12 drill sites across approximately four acres of disturbed land; the expansion would add 127 drill sites over 57 disturbed acres.
"This is early-stage exploration,” Naugle stated. “We do not have a mine here. We’re doing a science-based approach with geologists, sampling, assessing.”
The Forest Service’s Draft Environmental Analysis outlines the project boundary covering roughly 10,800 acres, operating year-round over five years from 2027 through 2032.
A 30-day public comment period followed the analysis release last month, a timeline conservationists say was too brief.
“The public did not have enough time to review the proposal,” stated Montana Environmental Information Center deputy director Derf Johnson, “and it certainly does not come up to standards with what we want to see with a project of this size.”
Despite the public comment window being closed, Falcon Copper says they want to do things as much as they can in harmony with the local community, ranchers, and hunters.
However, conservationists aren’t satisfied just yet.
“We would like to see an environmental impact statement because the Forest Service produced a minimal environmental assessment that really was just sort of glossed the surface, and this is potentially a really big project,” Platt expressed.
In the environmental assessment, the Forest Service states it may need to prepare an impact statement in the future.
In Falcon Copper’s Exploration Plan of Operations, officials outline a reclamation plan and environmental protection measures to reduce the project’s footprint when possible, such as plugging drill holes once exploration at a site is finished.
“We’re really cognisant, as we're doing this exploration work, we want to leave this area better than when we came,” Naugle said.
For now, the proposed expansion of the Blue Copper Project remains under federal review.
