Spokane Valley-based Revett Minerals Inc. has won a favorable decision from a federal appeals court in a dispute with environmental groups over whether its proposed Rock Creek, Mont., mine would harm grizzly bears and bull trout habitat.

Separately, the company last month reported third-quarter net income of $2.6 million, or 8 cents a share, up from $2.1 million net income, or 2 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Revett said in its earnings release that its $16.7 million in quarterly revenues in the latest quarter was up 35 percent from the year-earlier quarter.

The company operates the copper and silver producing Troy Mine, located about 15 miles south of Troy, Mont.

Since late 2004, Revett has planned to develop a second underground copper and silver mine that would tunnel beneath the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness Area at the property called Rock Creek, located near Noxon, Mont., about 50 miles southeast of Sandpoint.

On Nov. 16, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a U.S. Fish and Wildlife finding that Revett's proposed Rock Creek operation wouldn't significantly hurt grizzly bears and bull trout as reviewed under the Endangered Species Act. The court's ruling was in response to an appeal filed by the Rock Creek Alliance and other environmental groups against the federal agency and Revett, arguing that the agency didn't adequately address the mine's impact to wildlife under the act.

The groups argue the proposed mine would potentially disrupt the wilderness area's grizzly bear population and harm trout by dumping sediment into the Rock Creek watershed.

However, the federal court said in its opinion that U.S. Fish and Wildlife's finding "was not arbitrary, capricious, or in violation of the Endangered Species Act."

Revett said in a press release that the company is reviewing the court decision and will provide further updates and comments. However, in a Sept. 8 Journal story, Revett CEO and President John Shanahan had said that with a favorable U.S. appellate court ruling this year or early next year, the company hoped to move forward with first-phase development at Rock Creek by spring 2013.

The company says the Rock Creek mine operation, if developed, would employ 300. Its potential total production is estimated at 229 million ounces of silver and 2 billion pounds of copper.

The Rock Creek deposit is within U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service-administered Kootenai National Forest land, and mine operations require federal and state approvals to develop. To mitigate environmental impact, Revett has agreed to spend about $30 million to improve grizzly bear habitat, and Shanahan said the company plans to use the latest technology for its operations so that the mine's processing doesn't affect water quality or fish.