A few years ago, a concerned resident of southwestern Colorado let me know about a Canadian company’s proposal to do exploratory drilling for copper in the La Plata Mountains west of Durango. I told him not to worry, at least not yet. Small-time mining companies are notorious for staking a handful of claims and hyping pie-in-the-sky projects that will never come to fruition, and this one seemed to fit the bill.
This week another person asked me about the same project and whether I thought it was realistic. I was a bit slower to dismiss it this time. No, we’re not going to see the beloved mountain range gouged open for minerals anytime soon, but the company — and its plan — have become increasingly viable over time.
Metallic Minerals began acquiring and staking claims in the La Plata Mountains in 2019 and since then have amassed more than 500 patented and unpatented claims and other parcels covering some 12,000 acres, or 19 square miles. The company’s proposed La Plata copper project straddles and encompasses most of the western ridge of the range: If you’ve climbed Madden, Star, Gibbs, or Helmet Peak, you’ve been on Metallic Minerals’ claims (or ones controlled by the firm but under a different claimant). In press releases, Metallic Minerals estimates the La Plata deposits contain as much as 1.2 billion pounds of copper, along with silver, platinum, tellurium, and rare earth elements.
They began exploratory drilling in 2022 in what they call the Allard deposit, and in June 2023, the firm filed a notice of intent with the U.S. Forest Service to do exploratory drilling on Montezuma Minerals' 97 un-patented mining claims near the head of Bedrock Creek. That would have included pulling up to 247,000 gallons of water per year from Boren, Bedrock, and Madden Creeks, and then replacing the water by adding it -- presumably trucked in -- to the La Plata River where it crosses Highway 160 to ensure downstream water rights are honored. The efforts would be funded in part by an investment from Newcrest Mining Limited, which was acquired by global mining giant Newmont last November.
This summer the firm asked the USFS to amend its plan, reducing the number of boreholes from 16 to 4, although appears to have continued drilling on patented, private claims.
At this point, Metallic Minerals’ La Plata project appears to be no more than an exploratory effort. The firm has released no plans beyond that. Of course, drilling has impacts: It can be noisy, requires water, and some land needs to be cleared to make room for the drill rigs. But the big impacts and concern comes from the potential for actual mining, and if it were ever to happen it wouldn't be for years or even decades from now. The company would have to get permits from state mining regulators, federal land management agencies, the county, and the state water engineer (for water rights). And there would be ample opportunities for public input.
So, based on that, I’d say it’s not worth getting too worked up about. That said, it’s become increasingly clear that Metallic Minerals is not a fly-by-night outfit that is only interested in mining naive investors’ pocketbooks. It has the backing of Newmont (the operator of the Cripple Creek & Victor gold mine in Teller County, Colorado, and large mines in Nevada) and it claims its drilling has uncovered rich deposits of ore (always to be taken with a grain of salt, however). It’s worth keeping an eye on, in other words.
And if you’re in southwestern Colorado, you’ll have a chance to learn more: Metallic Minerals is holding two open houses:
- At the Breen Community Building on Nov. 7 from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
- At the Mancos Community Center on Nov. 8 from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
KSUT publishes selected articles from The Land Desk, a newsletter from Jonathan P. Thompson. Explore more articles here.
The Land Desk explores news from the Four Corners, Colorado Plateau, and Native and Indigenous lands.
It includes, in the words of Thompson, "commentary, fact-checks, myth-busting, essays, photos, and data-visualizations focusing on public lands, water, stolen and colonized lands, climate, politics, economics, environmental justice, energy, resource exploitation..."
Jonathan is a longtime Four Corners-based journalist and author of River of Lost Souls, Behind the Slickrock Curtain, and Sagebrush Empire.
