papers using currently available information from several sources. Additionally, the 

 EQC heard presentations on the issues of metal mine bonding and the status of 

 reclamation at the Zortman and Landusky mines at its regularly scheduled meetings 

 during the interim. 



Staff relied on key reports, court 



documents, and interviews with 



people who have a professional 



involvement with the mines and 



their reclamation. 



Staff reviewed several of the many 



research reports and studies that have 



been prepared, especially since the 



early 1990s, on the operation and 



reclamation of the Zortman and 



Landusky mines and their impact on 



water quality. However, a thorough 



review and understanding of these 



complex and sometimes contradictory technical reports is beyond the scope of this 



paper. Staff relied on key reports, court documents, and interviews with people who 



have a professional involvement with the mines and their reclamation. For a partial 



list of reports and documents that have been produced on the Zortman and Landusky 



mines, see R1-R8, References, listed in the Final Supplemental Environmental Impact 



Statement for Reclamation of the Zortman and Landusky Mines, Phillips County, 



prepared by the DEQand the BLM, December 2001. 



ocation 



From 1979 until it filed for bankruptcy in early 1998, Pegasus Gold Corporation, 

 through its subsidiary ZMI, operated two open-pit cyanide heap leach gold mines in 

 the Little Rocky Mountains immediately south of the Fort Belknap Reservation in 

 north-central Montana (Figure 1). The Zortman mine permit includes approximately 

 406 acres (122 acres BLM; 284 acres private mining claims) and the Landusky mine 

 permit includes approximately 783 acres (472 acres BLM; 311 acres private mining 

 claims). 



The Zortman mine is located about 1 1/2 miles east of the much larger Landusky 

 mine. Both mines are located on a mountain divide that separates the Missouri River 

 drainage to the south from the Milk River drainage to the north. The Fort Belknap 

 Reservation boundary is approximately 3 miles north of the Zortman mine and is 

 approximately 1/4 mile to the nearest disturbance at the Landusky mine.^ 



