Legislative committee presses for rare earth mining at Butte

by Michael Howell

The Montana Legislature’s Environmental Quality Council (EQC) voted unanimously last week to send letters of support to Congress and the Environmental Protection Agency urging them to consider allocating funding to support further development of a project for the recovery of rare earth elements (REEs) and critical minerals at the Berkeley Pit in Butte, as well as evaluate the feasibility at other permitted and/or abandoned mine sites in Montana for REE and critical minerals recovery.

The letter to Congress, signed by chairman of the EQC Representative Steve Gunderson, states that, “The Berkeley Pit presents a unique opportunity for the recovery of rare earth elements and critical minerals. The water treatment plant waste stream from this former open-pit copper mine contains high concentrations of cerium, gallium, neodymium, yttrium, zinc, and much more. Furthermore, similar opportunities to recover REEs and critical materials are likely to exist at other abandoned mine sites, as well as at currently operating mine operations. By investing in this proposal, Congress can stimulate economic growth, create new jobs, and enhance our national security; it aligns with broader efforts to promote domestic resource development and strengthen America’s position in the global marketplace. We respectfully urge you to consider this Defense Subcommittee programmatic appropriation request.”

Gunderson told the Bitterroot Star, “It is my understanding that Montana Resources, which has operated the copper and molybdenum mine outside Butte for nearly four decades, already has a small treatment plant capable of pulling the REEs out. So the technology is already there. 

“There is a grant out there to help put projects like this from theory into practice,” he said. “Montana Resources has done some remarkable work and this will give them some scalability. They’ve got to clean it up anyway and this will give them some way to mine while they reclamate, or reclamate while they mine, however you look at it.” 

As was reported in the Montana Standard, the Montana Mining Association has submitted a funding proposal to the Department of Defense for the next fiscal year to try and find ways to recover the materials. They also encouraged West Virginia University, which has been helping study the presence of rare-earth elements in the Berkeley Pit for years and has been developing new technology to recover the materials, to submit a proposal for more funding as well.

According to the Montana Free Press, Montana Mining Association Executive Director Matt Vincent told the EQC at its March 14 meeting that Montana is well-positioned to “cash in on” a national push to establish a domestic supply of rare earth elements so the United States can be less reliant on foreign supplies. 

It states on the Department of Defense’s website that, since 2020, the agency has awarded more than $439 million to establish domestic rare earth element supply chains. This includes separating and refining rare earth elements mined in the U.S., as well as developing downstream stateside processes needed to convert those refined materials into metals and then magnets.

Through the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy, the Manufacturing Capability Expansion and Investment Program (MCEIP) directorate has embarked on a five-year rare earth investment strategy to build “mine-to-magnet” domestic capacity at all critical nodes of the rare earth supply chain. Those critical nodes include sourcing, separation, processing, metallization, alloying and magnet manufacturing.

While the bulk of the DOD funding has gone into the development of rare earth element processing facilities and magnet manufacturing, MCEIP has also invested $10 million to explore the development of extraction technology and alternative sources of rare earth minerals from coal ash, acid mine drainage and other waste streams.

“Future MCEIP investments are expected to focus on closing remaining supply chain gaps and promoting integration among the tiers. DOD expects its support of these emerging capabilities will attract additional investment in rare earths from both defense and commercial manufacturers. With these additional investments, the Department will be able to meet its future demand for magnets without overseas dependencies,” it states on the DOD site.

Mark Thompson at Montana Resources told the EQC that researchers from the Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology and West Virginia University found significant quantities of zinc, manganese, yttrium, lanthanum and cerium in the Berkeley Pit’s water.

According to Thompson, there are clear benefits to building a rare earth and critical element “concentrator” in the United States — ideally near the Berkeley Pit’s water treatment plant, which is capable of processing about 5,000 gallons of water per minute. Concentrators separate the desired components from less valuable minerals.

“DOD has told me personally that this is one of the most advanced, shovel-ready projects they have in the country right now,” Thompson is quoted as saying. “I think it can go somewhere.”