Montana’s mineral potential

For those who have the courage and resources to challenge the environmental opposition, I’d like to bring to their attention a potential new mining district in Montana that was suggested by an exploration project of the Bunker Hill Co. about 30 years ago. I have no financial interest in the property nor its future but felt the story should be told so that future generations might benefit from the mineral potential.

Roger McConnel, the chief geologist for Bunker Hill expressed to me the opinion that the geology surrounding the Ward silver-lead-zinc mine southwest of Missoula, Mont., suggested a strong possibility of another Coeur d’Alene-type mining district. Accordingly, the field crew moved with great secrecy. Joe Gordon was the project manager and I was in charge of the surface geochemical exploration.

Boyles Bros. drilled for over a month seeking extensions near the old shaft of the Ward mine but the ground was severely faulted and in spite of grouting — and every other trick they could think of — Boyles never reached the target.

The surface geochemistry revealed a large and intense anomaly not far from the mine on a hillside sloping about 30 degrees, where I thought the bedrock couldn’t be too deep. However, two days of work with a D-8 dozer yielded no bedrock; thus Gordon determined that was enough, and the project was abandoned.

Years later, when I visited the owner, Fred Ward, in Missoula, he gave me a tearful update. After Bunker Hill had pulled out, another company drilled a shallow hole from the bottom of the dozer pit and hit mineralization within a few feet of the collar. At his own expense, Ward had personally driven a crosscut a huge distance and had blocked out what he felt was a million tons of good lead-zinc-silver ore. Then the Forest Service withdrew the permit for a previously approved mill and Ward finally threw in the towel.

I do not know the current status of the property, but it would appear to merit some investigation.

— The author is an engineer and professional geologist based in Sierra Vista, Ariz.