Blue Copper to increase mining exploration by a third
Laura Lundquist
(Missoula Current) Almost three months after a mining exploration project northeast of Avon became known, the mining company has submitted another even larger proposal for the same region.
On Wednesday, the Montana Department of Environmental Quality released a new draft environmental assessment of more proposed exploration work in the Blue Copper Exploration Project and is asking for public comment. The project, proposed by Falcon Copper Corporation, is a large-scale copper, gold, silver, tungsten, germanium and gallium exploration operation proposed on the public and private land near the Continental Divide approximately 6 miles northeast of Avon.
The public first became aware of the project in June when the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest released its environmental assessment of an earlier proposal - Amendment 3 - which would allow Falcon Copper Exploration to build up to 127 drill pads across a project area of almost 11,000 acres on public land. DEQ had received that application in November 2025. Its approval is still pending.
Now, DEQ has written an environmental assessment for an additional proposal - Amendment 4 - that Falcon Copper submitted in January and completed in August. Amendment 4 would allow Falcon Copper to increase the project by about a third, creating an additional 37 drill pads. But this work would be on three parcels of private land that are adjacent to the public land where the other exploration is proposed.
DEQ spokesperson Madison McGeffers said in an email that Falcon Copper elected to break the exploration work into two amendments to separate the private land proposal from the public land proposal. Amendment 4 won’t need an additional assessment from the Forest Service.
The environmental assessment for Amendment 4 said Falcon Copper would drill up to 222 drill holes - six holes per drill pad - to a maximum depth of 7,000 feet or 1.3 miles. Up to seven drill rigs would be operating at one time, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Supplemental lighting will be used during night operations. The company would need to build 3,900 feet of new road and improve 2.3 miles of existing road.
For its exploration work on public land, Falcon Copper had proposed to cool its drills with up to 24,000 gallons per day of water. But there were questions about where that water would come from.
Snowshoe, Carpenter and Ophir creeks flow near the exploration sites but are the headwaters of the upper Clark Fork River, which has no new water rights available. So the company has to buy existing rights. One of two water rights they have is a domestic well, so the company would have to request a change of use. Some of the nearby landowners were concerned that it could affect their water rights.
For the Amendment 4 work, the company will be getting its water from the City of Deer Lodge municipal water system. The company will truck up to 24,000 gallons a day using up to six tanker truck trips a day during peak operation.
If DEQ approves both amended proposals, the exploration drilling will be added to the exploration that is already occurring. In August 2024, Helena District Ranger Katherine Bushnell issued a decision memo allowing Falcon Copper Corp. to conduct an initial round of exploration drilling on 12 drill sites and surveys in three areas along Forest Service Road 708. Since the project was short-term and along the road, Bushnell used a categorical exclusion so public participation was limited to scoping.
DEQ will probably approve both amended proposals because the Blue Copper Project received a FAST-41 designation in August 2025, along with another Falcon Copper project, the Schell Creek Project in Nevada, so they’re being pushed through with minimal oversight.
In 2015, Congress passed the FAST Act to streamline the approval of transportation infrastructure projects. But in April 2025, the Trump administration started using the Act to fast-track critical mineral production by limiting environmental review and reducing permitting requirements as part of Trump’s American Energy Dominance program.
Montana has four mine projects in addition to the Blue Copper Project that have received FAST-41 designation: the Stillwater Mine; the Sheep Creek Project in the headwaters of the Bitterroot; the Libby Exploration Project and Becky’s Mine Modification on BLM land near Bridger.
According to various U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings, the company behind the project is Lion Copper and Gold Corporation, formerly Quaterra Resources Inc., based out of British Columbia, Canada, and aligned with Rio Tinto. A Lion Copper and Gold 2023 end-of-year SEC filing indicates that the Blue Copper Property is held by Falcon Copper Corporation, in which Lion Copper and Gold owns a 47.7% interest. In addition to the Blue Copper project, Falcon Copper holds three other Lion Copper and Gold properties in the West but lists its address in Deer Lodge.
To comment on DEQ’s environmental assessment of Amendment 4, submit comments by Oct. 29 to deqmepa@mt.gov online or mail comments to Field Services and Technology Section, Mining Bureau, Department of Environmental Quality, 2401 Colonial Drive, Helena, MT 59601.
Contact reporter Laura Lundquist at lundquist@missoulacurrent.com.