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The summary:
Metallic Minerals Corp, a Canadian prospecting company, with investment from Newmont Corp has been drilling exploratory core holes near Bedrock Creek in La Plata Canyon on the patented mining claim known as the Allard mine. They have identified 16 other sites to investigate according to investor presentations. The company press releases are very optimistic about ore quality and ore body size. The prospecting permit requirements do not take into account the much greater impacts to the area and environment that would occur if the activity progresses to mining and the permitting process has gone largely under the radar of the public. The impacts on the La Plata Canyons' river habitat, downstream water quality and other public uses are potentially very significant, particularly if the activities progress to industrial scale mining. Porphyry Copper deposits are typically mined with an open pit but Metallic Minerals suggests that it would be mined with an underground technique called block caving which is highly automated and would be destructive to the area above the mine.
Recent developments:
Based on recent news releases and information disseminated at Metallic Minerals recent open houses it appears unlikely that new core holes will be drilled in 2025. More core holes will likely be delayed until 2026 or early 2027 on Copper Hill and/or in Rush Basin. It appears that core hole drilling was delayed due to a lack of funds and Metallic Minerals needing to modify their Plan of Operations with the USFS. This summer Metallic Minerals raised approximately $8M CA to further the La Plata Project (see news release links below). Again, based on information from recent open houses, they intend to use the newly raised millions to revise their Plan of Operations with the USFS. A previous amendment to the original Plan of Operations (approved by the forest service in January 2023 under a Categorical Exclusion) was rescinded this past May presumably due to the amendment not being sufficient to meet their needs and the one year limit on a Categorical Exclusion making it difficult to accomplish the drilling they want to do. Stay tuned for opportunities to comment on the likely forthcoming new Plan of Operations with the USFS that may trigger an EA under NEPA rules (although in the current political environment, it is unclear what NEPA rules are being followed). Other key information from the open houses includes their plans to construct a pond in Rush Basin for drilling water needs and that the Substitute Water Supply Plans approved by the Colorado Department of Water Resources will likely go unused.
In the News:
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/metallic-minerals-announces-closing-final-120000246.html
https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/exploratory-drilling-to-continue-in-la-plata-canyon/
https://www.durangotelegraph.com/news/top-stories/not-ready-to-break-ground/
https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/what-people-in-mancos-think-about-mining-in-the-la-platas/
https://www.ksut.org/environment-climate/2024-10-29/is-mining-coming-to-the-la-plata-mountains
What Metallic Minerals has to say:
https://mmgsilver.com/projects/laplata/technical-report/
https://mmgsilver.com/projects/laplata/property-overview/
A presentation to investors about how promising the La Plata exploration appears to the developer:
The exploration is being invested in by one of the worlds largest gold mining companies
Permits associated with the mining exploration:
Go to the Colorado Department of Reclamation Mining and Safety link below and enter under 'Search terms' 'P2020011' for Allard site permit documents or 'P2023012' for Copper Hill site permit documents:
https://dnrweblink.state.co.us/drms/search.aspx
Wild cards can be used in the 'Search terms' field to look for new permit applications and submittals, eg 'P2026* '
For USFS approved Plan of Operations details:
https://www.fs.usda.gov/r02/sanjuan/projects/archive/61638
Links to informational stuff on the proposed mining method of block caving:
https://bdtbt.esdm.go.id/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Underground-Freeport-Indonesia.pdf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWqMD85MVO4
https://kincoracopper.com/northparkes-project/
By Plazak, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19866150
Photo of the Henderson Mine touted by Metallic Minerals as a block caving success story. In 1980 the cavity produced by the panel caving broke through to the surface, producing a large glory hole (subsidence) on the side of Red Mountain.
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