U.S. Critical Materials, the company eyeing rare earth elements near the headwaters of the Bitterroot, rescinded a draft exploratory mining plan after a wave of criticism from the community and environmental groups. They plan to submit a new, “reduced” version to the Forest Service for review by the end of April.
The Sheep Creek Project, south of Darby, has been controversial because of its proximity to the Bitterroot River, habitat and its inclusion on the FAST-41 Transparency List — part of a program intended to streamline, but not speed-up federal review of infrastructure projects.
In December, hundreds voiced concerns about the project in a meeting with the Ravalli County Commissioners. Also that month, U.S. Critical Materials submitted the original draft operations plan for exploration mining to the Forest Service, which has now been rescinded.
“The Bitterroot National Forest received a draft initial plan of operations for the Sheep Creek Project from US Critical Materials on December 5, 2025. The company recently rescinded its proposal and anticipates submitting a revised proposal by the end of April,” Dan Pliley, Bitterroot National Forest’s West Fork District ranger, wrote in a statement. “The Forest will then conduct a completeness review to determine if the proposal is sufficient to conduct environmental analysis. Once a new proposal is received, the project timeline will be updated on the FAST-41 Transparency webpage.”
Conservation and community groups sent a letter of opposition against the original draft, saying it was closer to a mine plan than an exploration. Among them was Friends of the Bitterroot. MTN caught up with the group’s president, Jim Miller, about some of their concerns in January, when the letter was sent to the Forest Service.
“That's really critical habitat for all kinds of threatened species, it's adjacent to and in between the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness and the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness,” Miller said. “It's also the headwaters of the Bitterroot River, so whatever happens at that mine is going to go downstream, potentially affect fisheries, agricultural water, domestic water. I can't actually think of a worse place to put a mine of this scale.”
In February, MTN spoke with Scott Osterman, a senior advisor with U.S. Critical Materials. He said the original draft was for exploration, and not for a full-scale mine, but that the company is revising it because of the community’s concerns.
“We're definitely looking and have taken the concerns that were voiced at the meeting and in other public forums to be able to look at it and say, ‘What do we really need to accomplish for this exploration?’ And so we will be submitting a revised and reduced scope of work for the Forest Service,” Osterman said.
This new draft, he said, would be a scaled-back version of the original and that the company needs to drill to learn more about the deposit as they consider the future of the project.
“It takes billions of years to form these rocks and, sometimes, people would like to have answers in minutes. And, the point is, we're trying to be very thoughtful about this and not rush into things, so that, you know, we're doing the right thing both for the company as well as for the environment and the community,” he said.
Osterman said the company is working on a website for the project and looking at real estate for a Ravalli County office. He said U.S. Critical Materials aims to be more open and transparent with the community.
“I look forward to what this spring brings and how we can start to engage the community in a much more meaningful way,” he said. “We've taken the time to really understand what's unique about the deposit. How can it be mined potentially in the future? What technologies can be used? Can we run a zero-water discharge mine? And the answers, we believe, are yes.”
Still, Miller said, many have concerns about the project.
"The original plan by US Critical Materials was not an exploration plan but a mining plan that would have removed large volumes of ore and developed the area with mining infrastructure,” Friends of the Bitterroot said in a statement. “The Forest Service rejected that plan and sent them back to the drawing board. To us it suggests that the mining company will cut corners if it is allowed to and the public should be wary."
MTN reached back out to U.S. Critical Materials for an update on the draft, but did not hear back by news time. We will continue to keep you updated.
