U.S. Offers Cash to Halt Mine Near Park

A Canadian mining company said it would take a close look at a Clinton administration offer to pay $65 million cash as part of a deal to abandon a gold mine on the edge of Yellowstone National Park. The offer made by the Justice Department to Crown Butte Resources of Toronto is part of an agreement engineered by President Clinton during his reelection campaign to end the heated environmental controversy over the proposed mine in Montana. The Justice Department informed Crown Butte that it was offering the company cash from mineral royalty payments.