A conservation group has lost its challenge of a company’s plan to look for molybdenum at an old mining site near Crested Butte.
Riverton, Wyo.-based U.S. Energy Corp. won state approval last year of a revised plan to build a mine tunnel at Mount Emmons.
The Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Board voted 4-1 Wednesday to uphold the approval and reject an appeal from the High Country Citizens’ Alliance.
The group’s executive director, Dan Morse, said the High Country Citizens’ Alliance still has concerns about water quality for Crested Butte.
But U.S. Energy Corp. chief executive Keith Larsen said mining today is different from the past, and new environmental and safety regulations will keep operations safe.
The alliance appealed the prospecting permit for U.S. Energy’s Mount Emmons mine, claiming the mining proposal represents not just prospecting, as state officials found, but development, which requires a more thorough review.
Colorado is the country’s leading producer of molybdenum, which is used to strengthen steel.
The Mount Emmons site is in the same area as the old Keystone Mine, where lead, silver and zinc were mined until 1969. A plant treats water from the site before it flows to Coal Creek.
In December, state health department officials advised U.S. Energy Corp. of possible water contamination violations after samples of water from the creek showed high levels of cadmium, aluminum and zinc.
