Each day two crews drive up the same road and go to work on the same mountain, but each has a different goal.
One, contracted by Noranda Mining Inc., aims to clean up heavy metals pollution caused by past mining at the Blackbird Mine.The other crew, working for Formation Capital Corp., is drilling 24 hours a day, hoping to find enough proven reserves to start up another cobalt mine.
Noranda, owner of the Blackbird Mine since 1980, has never mined the cobalt-and copper-rich property. Shortly after Noranda bought the property, the state sued Noranda for natural resource damages caused by former mine owners dating to the late 1800s. In 1995, an out-of-court settlement kept the Blackbird from becoming a Superfund site. Noranda and five other companies agreed to foot the bill for a speedy cleanup.
"Noranda is stuck with an environmental cleanup that they never had anything to do with," said state geologist Earl Bennett.
Terms for the Blackbird Mine cleanup, a $64 million, 10-year project overseen by the Environmental Protection Agency and three other state and federal agencies, were reached in 1995.
The Canadian company has already spent more than $10 million building and maintaining a water treatment plant. Noranda officials won't divulge their share of the cost. Other shareholders in the cleanup include Alumet, Hanna, Union Carbide and Machinery Center. Alumet lawyers argued unsuccessfully that the federal government should pay for their share of the problems.
After World War II the government became alarmed over the shortage of cobalt, a strategic metal that retains its strength and shape in extreme heat. The federal government bought about 11 million pounds of cobalt for aircraft engines. During World War II, the U.S. Bureau of Mines also bulldozed more than two miles of trenches and moved 4.5 million tons of ore.
But the government has sold much of its stockpiled cobalt.
While Noranda may have been the company left holding the bag when it comes to the cleanup costs, there's still plenty of cobalt left to be mined. That's where the Formation Capital crew comes in.
"The Idaho Cobalt Belt is going to live again," said Phil Nisbet of Formation Capital.
Like other companies around the planet, FCC hopes to get online ahead of the others to make up for a worldwide cobalt shortage.
Nisbet's company is drilling claims once held by Noranda. About two years ago, after regulations changed requiring mining companies to pay $100 per year per claim, Noranda dropped all but their patented claims. Nisbet's company bought up many of them.
Smith said Noranda doesn't have time to worry about what Formation Capital is doing or what Noranda might do with the property in the future.