What is Happening? 

Metallic Minerals Corp, a Canadian prospecting company, has been drilling exploratory core holes near Bedrock Creek in La Plata Canyon on their patented mining claim known as the Allard mine. This consists of an extremely large deposit of copper, silver, gold, and Platinum Group Metals (PGE’s). They have 16 other sites to drill across their 19 square mile project area. Their goal is proving that some or all of their claimswithin their project area are valuable enough for a large, industrial-scale mining company to buy them and develop them. Once bought, the real land-rape begins in the form of block cave mining. This technique is highly automated, water poisoning ground-sinking, and eventually crater-inducing. They’ve already proved that very large Allard deposit (3,280 ft. by 1,312 ft. by 3,280 ft.) is commercially viable. The project area comprises basins that drain Madden Creek, Bedrock Creek, Boren Creek, Basin Creek (Tomahawk Basin) into the La Plata Creek watershed and the East Mancos River watershed. The destruction or fencing off of these areas due to subsidence from block cave mining would be devastating environmentally, recreationally, economically, and spiritually. Additionally, the mining-related water quality issues in these major watersheds would negatively impact Hesperus, Mancos, irrigators, ranchers, and other water users downstream.