Mining summit convenes in Butte, Anaconda

By Justin Post - 09/07/2008

Butte and Anaconda will provide the backdrop this week for the 2008 National Summit of Mining Communities.

More than 200 people from throughout the country have registered for the summit, which begins Sunday with a grant writing workshop in the Student Union Building at Montana Tech.

The event continues through Thursday with sessions covering local, regional and national mining-related topics and tours of sites in the Mining City and Anaconda.

"The whole emphasis of the summit is communities talking to communities," said Butte-Silver Bow reclamation specialist Tom Malloy.

The summit focuses on how different communities have dealt historically with mining-related issues, rather than focusing on technical environmental or engineering-related issues, he said.

"It's more community related," Malloy said. "You sit down and find out there's a small town in Idaho that has the same exact problem, and one in Wyoming and Colorado." With a motto of "Too Tough To Die," the summit explores a wide range of issues from historic preservation to redeveloping mining cities, he said.

"There are a lot of advantages to finding out what other communities are doing in the country to solve their problems and that is the basis of the summit," Malloy said.

In its third year, the summit began in Leadville, Colo., in 2006 to recognize the boom-and-bust cycles of mining.

This is the first time the event has been scheduled outside of Leadville and organizers say it will attract elected officials, leaders and industry people from mining cities across the country.

Community development consultant Janet Cornish of Butte is teaching the grant-writing workshop from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday in the Big Butte room of the Student Union Building at Tech.

The event's official kickoff is 10 a.m. Monday with opening remarks at the Thornton Building from Kevin Mellott of Montana Tech, Leadville Mayor Bud Elliot, Butte-Silver Bow Chief Executive Paul Babb and Anaconda Chief Executive Rebecca Guay.

The first tour begins Monday at Butte's Granite Mountain Memorial followed by Montana Resources.

A social runs from 6 to 9 p.m. Monday at the Front Street Station where dinner features food from 14 area restaurants. Gov. Brian Schweitzer is the guest speaker during the dinner, which is open to the public for $25 per person.

On Tuesday, the group is scheduled to tour Anaconda's courthouse, smelter stack interpretive site, historic buildings such as the Washoe Theatre and the Old Works Golf Course with sessions also ongoing in Butte throughout the day at the Finlen Hotel, 100 E. Broadway St., and Thornton Building, 65 E. Broadway St.

Wednesday's sessions focus on local, regional and national issues and registered participants will mine for star garnets, sapphires and gold from ore brought in from Idaho, Philipsburg and locally from 3 to 7 p.m. in the parking lot across from the Finlen Hotel.

Three sessions are planned for Thursday before a closing lunch at the Thornton Building with guest speaker Karen Byrnes, Butte-Silver Bow's community development director.

Mellott said the group hopes to build new ties between the leaders of mining communities across the country and beyond, "to be linked together so they can share some of their wins and losses." Registration information for the dinner and summit is available at www.miningsummit.com or by calling 496-4220.

Reporter Justin Post may be reached at justin.post@lee.net.