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CRESTED BUTTE — A Canadian company is planning a mine atop Mount Emmons and predicts molybdenum production could start by 2013, riling opponents of developing the peak that looms over the ski town of Crested Butte.
Kobex Resources Ltd., based in Vancouver, British Columbia, said it will submit a plan to the U.S. Forest Service by year’s end. An environmental impact statement and feasibility study will also have to be done.
“If these timelines are met, Kobex expects mine operations to begin in 2010, with first production of molybdenum concentrate anticipated in 2013,” the company said in a July 6 statement.
“We think that this time frame is unrealistic and doesn’t provide any meaningful dialogue with the Gunnison Valley,” said Dan Morse of the conservation group High Country Citizens’ Alliance.
Area residents and elected officials have fought for years to block mining on Mount Emmons, a 12,392-foot peak that towers over Crested Butte in western Colorado. Locals call the mountain Red Lady because of the rock’s color.
The law firm Western Mining Action Project is representing mine opponents in an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the development. The appeal was filed after the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected opponents’ challenge of the sale of public land on Mount Emmons to a private company.
Crested Butte, Gunnison County and the High Country Citizens Alliance sued over the sale, saying the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s sale of 155 acres violated federal law. Last year, the appeals court upheld a lower court’s finding that third parties can’t challenge mining patents — essentially deeds — on public lands.
Phelps Dodge Corp. acquired the land under a 1872 hard-rock mining law that allows the federal government to sell public land for mining for $2.50 to $5 an acre. Phelps Dodge transferred the land back to the previous owner, U.S. Energy Corp. in Riverton, Wyo.
Kobex Resources has said it has an agreement with U.S. Energy to manage and operate a mine on Mount Emmons and has the option to earn up to a 65 percent interest in the project. The company said earlier this month that its board of directors has approved spending $14.2 million over the next year on the project.
The market for molybdenum, used to harden steel, is robust, Kobex said.
Kobex Resources Ltd., based in Vancouver, British Columbia, said it will submit a plan to the U.S. Forest Service by year’s end. An environmental impact statement and feasibility study will also have to be done.
“If these timelines are met, Kobex expects mine operations to begin in 2010, with first production of molybdenum concentrate anticipated in 2013,” the company said in a July 6 statement.
“We think that this time frame is unrealistic and doesn’t provide any meaningful dialogue with the Gunnison Valley,” said Dan Morse of the conservation group High Country Citizens’ Alliance.
Area residents and elected officials have fought for years to block mining on Mount Emmons, a 12,392-foot peak that towers over Crested Butte in western Colorado. Locals call the mountain Red Lady because of the rock’s color.
The law firm Western Mining Action Project is representing mine opponents in an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the development. The appeal was filed after the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected opponents’ challenge of the sale of public land on Mount Emmons to a private company.
Crested Butte, Gunnison County and the High Country Citizens Alliance sued over the sale, saying the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s sale of 155 acres violated federal law. Last year, the appeals court upheld a lower court’s finding that third parties can’t challenge mining patents — essentially deeds — on public lands.
Phelps Dodge Corp. acquired the land under a 1872 hard-rock mining law that allows the federal government to sell public land for mining for $2.50 to $5 an acre. Phelps Dodge transferred the land back to the previous owner, U.S. Energy Corp. in Riverton, Wyo.
Kobex Resources has said it has an agreement with U.S. Energy to manage and operate a mine on Mount Emmons and has the option to earn up to a 65 percent interest in the project. The company said earlier this month that its board of directors has approved spending $14.2 million over the next year on the project.
The market for molybdenum, used to harden steel, is robust, Kobex said.
