Judge strikes down initial approval for stalled Montana mine MATTHEW BROWN, Associated Press FacebookTwitterEmail BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A U.S. judge on Wednesday struck down the government’s approval of the first phase of a long-stalled copper and silver mine that would be constructed beneath a northwestern Montana wilderness. The decision against the Rock Creek Mine near Noxon is the latest in series of legal setbacks for a project first proposed in the late 1980s. U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy sided with opponents who said an environmental review by federal officials was insufficient because it considered only exploration work and not full-scale mining.