After a heated meeting in Breen the day before, a company performing exploratory drilling in the La Plata Canyon visited Mancos for an open house at its community center on Nov. 8.
The event was billed as “An Introduction to the La Plata Project,” and it didn’t take long for the room to fill with concerned, curious community members.
Back in 2019, Metallic Minerals Corp. – the Canadian company doing the exploring – bought patented mineral rights in the La Plata Canyon because of its “geologic potential,” said Scott Petsel, the company’s president.
The 1.2 billion pounds of copper they found near Bedrock Creek “was discovered in the 1950s and 1970s by companies that drilled over 50 holes in that time period,” Petsel said.
To inform that figure, the company is using the historical information, coupled with eight more drill cores the company extracted between 2019 and 2023, Petsel said. The cores are 2 inches in diameter and up to 4,900 feet deep.
With copper at $4 a pound, there’s more than $4 billion of metal in the ground.
Although that sounds like a lot, it’s not considered “economical” because it’s not concentrated. It’s not enough for a company to come in and start mining it, a sentiment all three representatives from Mining Minerals emphasized at the open house.
Still, the community voiced concerns over that possibility.
“It’s all about water – we recognize that,” Petsel said.
To do their exploratory drilling, Metallic Minerals uses anywhere from 250 to 500 gallons of water a day.
Because the company doesn’t have water rights in the Mancos River, that water is hauled from Durango and recirculated in small ponds onsite.
They’re also doing baseline water testing in the East Mancos basin and La Plata Basin, and have been since they began exploring in the area in 2019.
“We’re not required to do water quality testing – I know that sounds crazy – but we believe that’s best practices,” said Logan Powell, the company’s project manager.
Bryan Eisenbraun, the external relations manager for the La Plata Project, added that community members can participate in such testing, in an effort to mitigate concerns.
Petsel made it clear they are just exploring; Metallic Minerals would not mine it.
Instead, their goal is “to continue drilling holes, maybe 10,000 meters a year, 20 holes at best, for the next several years” said Petsel. “We may or may not be successful.”
But that didn’t curb concerns, because Denver-based Newmont Corp. has a 9.5% stake in the publicly traded company. Last year, Newmont bought Australia-based Newcrest Mining and is now considered the world largest gold miner.
“They’re just an investor at this point,” said Petsel. “We like them as a partner because they have deep pockets, and they have an interest in what we’re doing, but there’s no guarantee they’d be the miner, and there’s no plan for mining.”
In New South Wales, the Newcrest-operated gold mine emitted dust with heavy metals in it, over 11 times the legal limit, according to an article in The Guardian last year.
David Mallin of Mancos criticized Newcrest for its mining operations in Peru, Ghana, South Africa and Indonesia, saying that it has harassed locals and “spilled cyanide and mercury into the watersheds, they’ve caused environmental degradation and handle protesters violently.”
In Peru, for instance, there’s an ongoing case against Newmont and the Chaupe family. Since 2011, Newmont has tried to evict the family from their farm since it conflicts with a mining project.
“The Chaupes allege that they have been physically attacked and threatened, and that Newmont’s agents have destroyed their property and possessions, and killed or attacked their pets and livestock,” according to an article by EarthRights International.
Petsel defended Newmont, citing its work at the Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mine in Colorado.
“Maybe Newmont has a terrible reputation in other places, but I think at least for their work in Colorado, and as a Colorado-based company, my experience is they actually have a pretty good reputation around the world,” said Petsel. “If they didn’t, they wouldn’t be the world’s largest gold mining company.”
Petsel said establishing a copper mine is usually a 29-year conversation anyway.
“One of thing that was mentioned at the last meeting was, ‘Oh, we won’t be doing actual mining operations for 20 years, so don’t worry,’” said Mallin. “There’s children, grandchildren; I’m worried.”
Another point of contention involved whether Native American tribes have had input.
“We have not yet been in touch with the Navajo Nation. We definitely intend to go there, as soon as we can,” Eisenbraun said.
In the La Plata Mountains, the tallest peak in the range is Mount Hesperus (Dibé Nitsaa), which is one of the Four Sacred Mountains of the Navajo. The other three are Blanca Peak (Sisnaajiní) in the east, Mount Taylor (Tsoodził) in the south and San Francisco Peak (Dook’o’oosłííd) in the west.
Essentially, in the Navajo creation story, the creator put them “on land between four mountains, representing the four cardinal directions,” according to the Decolonial Atlas.
Hesperus is the northern sacred mountain.
“There’s a sacred Navajo mountain in La Plata Canyon, and you’ve been in there since 2019,” said one community member. “I’m surprised it’s just coming up now.”
Eisenbraun said they gave a tour, in conjunction with the U.S. Forest Service, to a few members of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, based in Towaoc. They have not yet contacted the Jicarilla Apache tribe, but intend to, as Mount Blanca is culturally significant to them.
“They’re definitely equal stakeholders in all of this, and their concerns for the lands and water are beyond important,” Eisenbraun said.
Some in the audience asked whether public access to the area would be restricted.
“There’s going to be land that’s going to get developed, and it’s not going to be available for public use. That’s one of the things that happens with development,” Powell said.
Petsel said closures likely would be temporary. More permanent closures, which could happen in the event of mining operations – might be supplemented by a new ski lift or something of that nature, Petsel said.
When asked what the “extent of damage to our La Platas” would be, Petsel said it’s minimal – maybe some road stems off existing Forest Service roads and traffic to the drill site.
“I do envision the idea of a mine coexisting with all the community interests,” said Petsel. “In my career, I’ve seen it over and over again, where mines and communities coexist to the benefit of those communities.”
And “as a society, you mine or you die. That’s as blunt as it comes down to,” said Powell.
“Are we going to ask others to take on that risk, or are we going to do it ourselves and make sure it’s done right and be a leader in the industry and make sure it’s done right. Because otherwise it’s going to be done wrong, in some developing country somewhere,” Powell said.
Aaron Engers, who lives in Mancos, agreed.
“There are things we need to support our modern life. It’s only right to do it ourselves,” Engers said.
Petsel added that the administration of President Joe Biden was interested in recognizing domestic sources of things like copper as to not disturb the supply chain, “as we saw during the pandemic.”
Plus, “the green energy transition … is growing the demand for copper,” Petsel said.
“With any economic development project, there’s always a risk,” said Powell. “But somebody has to be able to do this right. If it’s not grown, it’s mined.”
