looking at the economic feasibility of processing old mine 

 dumps, surface veins, and reopening the underground mines in 

 Butte. NBMI has reopened several of the underground mines in 

 Butte. Future activities on the hill are discussed in 

 Chapter 4 . 



Other Mining Operations 



A number of smaller mines, recovering a variety of 

 minerals, are currently operating in the basin. They 

 generally employ fewer than 7 5 people, and their operations 

 are permitted by DSL. Most of these mines do not consume 

 surface water or discharge mining wastes to surface waters, 

 but some are nonpoint sources of pollution to ground and 

 surface waters. A list of these mines is provided in Table 

 2-2. 



Table 2-2. PERMITTED MINING OPERATIONS IN THE CLARK FORK BASIN 



In addition to these operations, there are numerous 

 "small miner" metal mines in the basin. These operations 

 disturb less than five acres and mine less than 3 6,500 tons 

 of material per year. These mines generally do not involve 

 consumptive uses of water or discharges of waste into 

 surface waters, although they are required to comply with 

 Montana's Air and Water Quality Acts. 



2-3 



