Dombeck

This case involves a challenge to the validity of two Noranda Minerals Corp. (“Noran-da”) mining claims in the Montanore Deposit situated within the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness Area in northwestern Montana. The Wilderness Area is within the Kaniksu National Forest, but is administered by the Cabinet Ranger District of the Kootenai National Forest. In 1971, Pacific Coast Mines, Inc., Noranda’s predecessor-in-interest and a wholly owned subsidiary of the United States Borax and Chemical Corporation (“Borax”), began exploring for silver and copper in the Revett Formation, a geologic formation which extends across a vast portion of northwest Montana and eastern Idaho.

In October 1982, Borax located its initial Hayes Ridge (“HR”) lode claims several thousand feet to the northwest of Rock Lake. In July 1983, Borax discovered a mineralized outcrop of the Montanore Deposit adjacent'to Rock Lake. It staked claims from Rock Lake to a point several thousand feet to the northwest (joining up with the original HR claim block). On August 1,1983, Borax located the original HR 73 and 74 lode claims in the vicinity of Rock Lake. On September 24, 1983, Borax located HRs 133 and 134, which…