Lincoln County’s Troy Mine is on track to reopen later this year and resume full copper and silver production sometime next year.
The mine, owned by Spokane-based Revett Mining Company, has been closed since late 2012 when a series of rockslides blocked key underground routes.
For more than a year, the company has been building new underground tunnels to get to copper and silver reserves. As of late June, the company had built 4,700 feet of tunnel to develop an area called the North C Bed. According to a press release, the project remains on schedule and within budget.
Access to another area, known as the I Bed, will require another 5,900 feet of tunnel but if development continues as planned the company estimates it will resume full production by mid-2015.
“We remain fully focused on returning the Troy Mine to producing capability,” said Revett President and CEO John Shanahan.
Revett is also spearheading the development of the Rock Creek Mine in the Cabinet Mountains. The Troy Mine first opened in 1981 but closed in 1993. It reopened in the mid-2000s and produced copper and silver until it was shut down in late 2012. Prior to the rockslides, more than 200 people worked at the mine.