Environment in the West

Conservation Group, Mining Company Work Together

By Jill Kuraitis, 8-19-08

Johnson, Andrus

Idaho Conservation League director Rick Johnson said the group won’t lose its vigilance over Idaho watershed quality, but that working with Formation Capital to plan a mining operation has been better than being antagonists.

Formation Capital Corp. is a Canadian mining company planning a cobalt mining operation in the Upper Salmon River region. There is abundant cobalt in the area, and Formation Capital plans to mine about 1,500 tons a year using underground mining techniques. 

The company and the ICL announced an agreement and “ongoing working relationship” Monday at a press conference in Boise. The deal-broker is Cecil Andrus, four-term governor of Idaho and former Secretary of the Interior.  Andrus is both a director of Formation Capital and a founding member of the ICL.  He told reporters that he’d studied the Idaho Cobalt Project and endorses the company’s commitment to a protection program which includes annual meetings with the ICL.  “This is a historic occasion,” said Andrus. “It’s the first time I’ve seen a real working relationship with people who have no reason to be adversaries, but traditionally have been.”

Formation will contribute $150,000 a year for onsite environmental protection projects such as streamside habitat restoration and sedimentation reduction.  The company will also provide a bond to pay for water treatment after the mine closes.  Johnson said underground mines often fill with water, and although he hopes the treatment won’t be necessary, and the mine’s design has extraordinary safeguards to prevent post-shutdown leakage, it was a crucial part of the deal to get the bond in place. The Forest Service requires bonds, but the state of Idaho does not, so the deal from Formation to provide additional funding “raises the bar” for mining in Idaho, Johnson said.

The mineral cobalt is used in batteries for hybrid and electric cars, radar equipment, and helps reduce sulfur emissions from industrial processes. “It’s a metal with a hundred uses that are beneficial to mankind,” said Andrus. 

“As of today, all cobalt comes from foreign sources,” he said.  “Formation has sunk $35 million into this project, which will provide 200 – 250 new jobs.” Andrus said there could more than $9 million in payroll and $6 million in corporate taxes injected into the Idaho economy from the project.

Johnson favorably compared the underground project to “a big open pit mine” producing gold, “eighty percent of which is for jewelry,” he said.  “That’s not a strategic need.”

“Instead of appealing the mine, the Idaho Conservation League believes it can accomplish more to further protect Idaho’s water, fish and wildlife by working with Formation Capitol,” Johnson said.

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