Mining Expedition Set Next Year At Boulder Batholith

A partnership between the U.S. Geological Survey and the Rio Tinto Group plans to arrange flights next year over southwest Montana’s Boulder Batholith to search from the sky for mineral resources considered vital to national security that range from aluminum to zirconium and include rare earth metals. The region known for its mineral potential and productive mining stretches roughly between Butte and Helena and between the upper Clark Fork River and upper Missouri River valleys.