By Susan Gallagher Associated Press HELENA, Mont. -- The Forest Service says a company seeking to develop a copper and silver mine beneath the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness in northwestern Montana can begin digging this winter, now that the agency has reviewed its decision to allow the project.

By Becky Kramer, The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash. Mar. 19--The Kootenai National Forest has hired a geotechnical consultant to review a mine operator's plans to extract silver and copper from underneath a Montana wilderness.