Spokane Valley, Washington - Revett Minerals Inc. (TSX-RVM) (“Revett” or the “Company”) announced on Friday, October 13^th, 2006, that the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (“Fish and Wildlife Service”) re-issued a favorable biological opinion for its Rock Creek project (see our release dated October 13, 2006). This decision is a major milestone in the continued progress towards the development of this world class deposit.

 

As a refresher for investors already familiar with Revett and its holdings, or as a primer for potential investors, the following is a summary of the current status and accomplishments to date in respect of Rock Creek’s development.

 

The Rock Creek deposit is a quartzite hosted stratabound copper/silver deposit located in the Cabinet Mountains of northwestern Montana, United States. Geologically, it is very similar to, though much larger and higher grade than, the ore body currently in production at the Company’s nearby Troy Mine.

 

Rock Creek was discovered by Bear Creek Mining Company (a subsidiary of Kennecott Copper Corp.), and was subsequently explored by Bear Creek, and later ASARCO Inc.  Surface drilling consisted of 121 diamond drill holes, totaling 37,196 meters. Rock Creek is a roughly flat lying mineralized zone. It is located at an estimated average of 325 meters below surface. The inferred resource averages about 10 meters in thickness and it covers an area approximately 4,900 meters (3.0 miles) long and 2,200 meters (1.4 miles) wide. The deposit remains open to the west. 

 

 Inferred Resources

 

1.              Mineral Reserves have been categorized in accordance with the classifications defined by the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum.

2.              The estimated mineral resources are based upon a technical report (the “Independent Technical Report on the Rock Creek Cu-Ag Project, Montana”), dated May 7, 2004, and amended January 27, 2005, prepared by SRK Consulting, Toronto in accordance with National Instrument 43-101.

3.              Resource estimate based on 121 core drill holes, totalling 122,035 feet (37,196m) in length, drilled on ~1,000ft (300m) spacing.

 

The Rock Creek resources were calculated by Dr. Jean-Francois Couture, a qualified person within the meaning of NI 43-101. Dr. Couture is employed by SRK Consulting of Toronto, Ontario.

The permitting process was started in 1987 by ASARCO Inc., the then owner of the property.  The lead government agencies in charge of the permitting for Rock Creek were the U.S. Forest Service and the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (“Montana DEQ”). The final Environmental Impact Statement (“EIS”) for Rock Creek was issued in September 2001 and the Record of Decision (“ROD”) was issued in 2003. The ROD is the final permit which authorized the commencement of the evaluation program and the eventual development of a mine, if warranted.

 

During the baseline environmental review, it was determined that grizzly bears and bull trout (both threatened species in the United States) live in the project area.  As a result, the Fish and Wildlife Service was requested by the permitting agencies to render an opinion stating what affect a mine may have on these species, and to recommend what measures should be implemented to mitigate any impacts of development of the project on these two species.  This document is called a Biological Opinion and it was originally released in May 2003. The Biological Opinion concluded that with the recommend mitigation activities the development of the project would not adversely impact the continued existence of the grizzly bear and bull trout in the vicinity of the proposed mine.  The final EIS and the positive findings of the Biological Opinion allowed the U.S. Forest Service and Montana DEQ to issue a favorable ROD in June 2003. The ROD allows further development of Rock Creek. 

 

The Biological Opinion was challenged by several environmental groups who filed a lawsuit disputing the conclusions reached in the 2003 Biological Opinion.  In early 2005, a District Court in Montana ruled in the plaintiff’s favor and the Biological Opinion was remanded back to the Fish and Wildlife Service for further review.  On October 13, 2006, after 18 months of further studies and review, the Fish and Wildlife Service reaffirmed in a forceful opinion that the development of the project with the recommended mitigation activities “would have a net positive impact on grizzly bears and grizzly bear habitat throughout the CYE. We concluded that the measures in the mitigation plan…if implemented would result in a net reduction in the future human caused grizzly bear mortality rates, even with development and operation of the proposed mine”.

 

In addition, there has been a complaint filed by a number of environmental groups which has challenged the adequacy of the scientific reviews undertaken by the U.S. Forest Service in its granting of the Rock Creek ROD. This lawsuit was stayed pending the findings on the revised Biological Opinion and it is probable that the lawsuit will move forward given the issuance of this favorable Biological Opinion. The environmental groups reserve the right to again challenge the recently released Biological Opinion.

 

Rock Creek is a pre-feasibility stage project.  The next phase of development is the Evaluation Program which will involve developing an adit and ramp system into the deposit, driving a drift on the mineralized horizon, and performing additional delineation drilling to verify existing technical assumptions.  This work should last approximately two years and culminate in a technical and economic feasibility study.   The physical work related to the adit and ramp development will now likely commence in the spring of 2007 as winter conditions have begun to set in. Between now and the commencement of driving the evaluation adit, the Company and the regulatory agencies will finalize a number of agreements which provide the administrative framework for the mitigation program and Revett will finalize engineering related to the water treatment plant and it will also finalize the engineering of the evaluation program.

 

 Assuming a positive feasibility study, and our obtaining appropriate project financing, Revett intends to develop a 10,000 ton per day underground (room-and-pillar) mine which is proposed to incorporate a conventional flotation processing circuit to produce a copper concentrate. This process for producing copper concentrate is very similar to the process used at the Troy Mine.  Construction would take approximately two years.  Once in operation, Rock Creek is expected to average 6 million ounces of silver and 52 million pounds of copper production annually over a 20 year mine life.

 

 

 

William Orchow

President & CEO

 

For more information, please contact:

Scott Brunsdon, CFO or Doug Ward, VP Corporate Development at (509) 921-2294