Australian company to drill for tungsten near Philipsburg
Laura Lundquist
(Missoula Current) If the state of Montana approves its application, an Australian company will explore for tungsten in the Flint Creek Range near Philipsburg.
Last week, the Montana Department of Environmental Quality released an environmental assessment of exploration activities that are proposed on U.S. Forest Service land at the headwaters of Granite Creek in Finley Basin, 11 miles east of Philipsburg. DEQ will accept public comments on the draft EA through Aug. 14.
Proposed by IRIS Metals out of Melbourne, Australia, the exploration project involves 16 drill holes to a maximum depth of almost 2,000 feet and 10 20-by-20-foot drill pads. Four drill sumps would be installed to collect drill fluids and rock fragments. Up to 12,000 gallons of water per day would be used for drilling and would be trucked from an irrigation canal outside of Maxville.
The environmental assessment says “the capacity, purpose and beneficial use associated with the irrigation canal’s water right are currently unknown, as water-right information for this source has not been provided by the Applicant. Proof of water right ownership is not a requirement under (Metal Mine Reclamation Act) for obtaining an exploration license.”
Six drill sites higher on the mountainside will be accessed by helicopter, so wooden landing platforms would be built and those sites wouldn’t use sumps. Portable tanks would be used instead, according to the plan.
Work is planned around the clock for up to seven days a week, and lighting would be used from dawn to dusk. Trucks would use Princeton Road from Maxville to access the site.
The project is expected to start this summer and be complete by November with reclamation complete by December 2027. DEQ still needs to decide how much Iris Metals should pay for a reclamation and revegetation bond.
The project lies within the Flint Range Inventoried Roadless Area. About 0.034 acres
of the Flint Range IRA would be affected and the company said it would rebuild about 2,000 feet of road and widen it to 10 feet across to enable truck traffic.
The mountains above Philipsburg are littered with old mines dating back to the 1800s. Back then, miners were searching for more common metals, such as gold and silver. But now, with advanced technology requiring more unusual metals, rare-earth metals, the rush is on to see what the old mineral veins might still contain.
During the late 1970s, Union Carbide drilled 10 holes in the Finley Basin, but the information was lost when the company went under, according to an environmental assessment prepared by the Beaverhead Deerlodge National Forest. In 2014, Finley Mining Inc. of Delaware, submitted a plan of operations to the Beaverhead Deerlodge National Forest to explore the basin again. District Ranger Charlene Bucha approved the plan in November 2015 that allowed Finley Mining to drill 12 holes at the same 10 sites Iris Metals plans on using.
It’s not clear whether Finley Mining conducted its exploration work a decade ago. But in December 2025, IRIS Metals announced it had signed with Finley Mining for the exclusive right to a farm-in for the Finley Basin Tungsten Project.
A farm-in agreement basically allows one party, typically an exploration company, to earn an interest in a mining lease or exploration license by agreeing to spend a predefined sum on exploration activities. IRIS Metals will earn an initial 70% stake in Finley Mining’s asset for spending $1 million on exploration, according to Mining.com.au.
"This binding agreement marks an exciting step for IRIS as we grow and diversify our critical minerals portfolio into tungsten, a vital component for the defence and technology industries. The Finley Basin Project offers significant upside with its prospective geology and location in a mining-friendly jurisdiction. Combined with our existing South Dakota portfolio, this positions IRIS to capitalise on significantly growing demand for US-sourced critical minerals," IRIS Metals executive chairman Peter Marks said in December.
A Proactive Investors article said a key advantage for IRIS Metals is the presence of a fully permitted and operational contract mill in Philipsburg that can process tungsten concentrate.
A few months later, IRIS Metals announced it had acquired Union Carbide’s historical exploration data, including drill logs, geological interpretation and surface sampling. So it submitted a Plan of Operations to the Beaverhead Deerlodge National Forest for its own exploration. The Beaverhead Deerlodge National Forest hasn’t publicized the plan of operations for this new endeavor nor any amended decision.
To comment on the DEQ environmental assessment, send comments by Aug. 14 to deqmepa@mt.gov or mail to Field Services and Technology Division, Mining Bureau, Department of Environmental Quality, 2401 Colonial Drive, Helena, MT 59601.
Contact reporter Laura Lundquist at lundquist@missoulacurrent.com.