Molybdenum Exploration Sparks Debate Over Idaho Watershed

  • Monday, September 20, 2010
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  • Keywords:Molybdenum Exploration Idaho Watershed
[Fellow]
IDAHO CITY, Idaho -- A Canadian mining company's plan to explore a massive molybdenum deposit in the Boise National Forest has raised hopes of an economic revival in southwest Idaho, but has drawn loud opposition from environmental groups who fear industrial-scale mining could threaten a critical watershed.
 
Over the next five years, Vancouver, British Columbia-based Mosquito Consolidated Gold Mines Ltd. plans to build several miles of new roads on 2,800 acres of the Grimes Pass backcountry north of Idaho City to drill for molybdenum, copper and other valuable minerals.
 
If the so-called CuMo Project is built, it would bring about 1,000 new jobs to a mountain basin that sparked a gold rush here more than a century ago, and it could become the biggest single private employer in Idaho, said John Moeller, a consultant for Mosquito at Forsgren Associates Inc. in Boise.
 
But while company officials emphasize that years of additional exploration is needed before a mine is proposed, conservation groups and public health advocates are already lining up to oppose the project, arguing it threatens a watershed that provides one-fifth of Boise's municipal water supply.
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