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In reply to the discussion: Well, I'll be! Asbestos! It's back! [View all]jmowreader
(52,617 posts)WR Grace was mining vermiculite, which is a rock that gets fluffy if its heated up enough, in Libby. At one point 80 percent of the worlds supply of this very useful mineral came from there. This stuff has millions of uses - insulation, fireproofing, plant growing medium
they even use it as fake snow in the movies. What no one realized until half the town came down with mesothelioma is the Libby mine is heavily contaminated with white asbestos. Since you cant clean the asbestos from the vermiculite, they had no choice but to close the mine.
Butte is also an asbestos source. I suspect everything east of the Idaho state line has asbestos deposits. There might be some in the Silver Valley, but the ore Hecla is looking for formed below where asbestos is so there are no issues with it in the Lucky Friday and Sunshine mines.
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