$2.2 MILLION RAISED TO REPEAL CYANINDE LEACH MINE BAN

HELENA - The out-of-state mining company behind an effort to repeal
Montana's ban on cyanide leach mining gave nearly $850,000 to the
effort - an average of about $23,000 every day - over the past five
weeks, state records filed Monday show.

Miners, Merchants and Montanans for Jobs and Economic Opportunity, the
group formed to promote Initiative 147, has raised a total of $2.2
million with 98 percent of that coming from one Colorado mining
company, Canyon Resources Corp., state records show. Canyon gave
$848,005 in both cash and in-kind donations between Sept. 7 and Oct.
13, according to information filed with the state commissioner of
political practices. The company has given $2.16 million so far

I-147 would repeal a 1998 citizen-passed ban on cyanide leach mining,
restore the mineral leases lost since the ban passed and require new
environmental safeguards.

Canyon wanted to build a large cyanide leach gold mine near Lincoln
when voters outlawed the practice.

Foes of I-147, a group called Save the Blackfoot, raised $212,138 in
the past five weeks, an average of about $5,700 every day. They have
spent $195,117.

About a third of Save the Blackfoot's money came from Montana Trout
Unlimited, which gave just over $69,000 in cash and in-kind donations.

A second group opposed to I-147, called Montanans for Common Sense
Mining Laws, raised $71,277 in the last month, records show, an
average of about $1,900 a day. The group has spent $52,188.

The I-147 campaign has heated up recently, with both sides running
television advertisements and sending large, glossy postcards to voters.

A group promoting I-149, which would increase tobacco taxes and use
most of the money for health care programs, has raised $107,690 and
spent $88,748. Healthy Kids Healthy Montana has about $19,000 left.

Those fighting the tobacco measure, called Veterans, Taxpayers,
Montanans and Tobacco Retailers, Wholesalers and Manufacturers Against
I-149, has raised just $4,533 and spent all but $100 of that.

Montanans for Term Limits, which is opposing a constitutional change
that would extend term limits for legislators, has raised $46,437 and
spent $38,440 through Oct. 5. About $35,000 has come from a national
organization advocating term limits for elected officials.

Proponents of an initiative to legalize marijuana for medical purposes
have raised $18,502 and spent all but $711. But they also have
received help through the donation of $197,147 worth of goods and
services from a national group called the Marijuana Policy Project.