HELENA (AP) -- A Washington company has applied for the state permit necessary to operate a copper and silver mine beneath Montana's Cabinet Mountains Wilderness Area near the Idaho border.

Mines Management Inc. of Spokane, Wash., submitted an application to the Montana Department of Environmental Quality to move forward with the Montanore Project. Noranda Inc. pursued the project but withdrew in 2002 after making a major investment.

Mines Management said last summer that it was interested in Montanore, expected to start the permit process early in 2005 and hoped to see it concluded in about two years. A plan for operations also has been submitted to Kootenai National Forest officials.

The proposed mine is on national forest and private land 18 miles south of Libby. The ore body is beneath the Cabinet wilderness in Sanders County, but the mill and other facilities would be in Lincoln County. All disturbance of the land's surface would occur outside the wilderness boundary, DEQ said.

State and federal officials are reviewing the plan of Mines Management for completeness. The next steps are preparation of an environmental analysis and a draft environmental-impact statement. Issues will include effects on wildlife, including grizzly bears.

Approval at both the state and federal levels is necessary for Mines Management to move ahead with its project, Warren McCullough, a DEQ administrator, said Thursday.

It is too early to say whether the permit process can be completed within two years, he said, noting the Mines Management documents now before DEQ fill 17 binders.

The state agency is accepting public comment on the application.

Montanore would share an ore body with the controversial Rock Creek Mine, which has been challenged by people concerned the mine puts water quality at risk. Rock Creek flows into the Clark Fork River, which flows into Idaho's Lake Pend Oreille.

Mines Management has projected the Montanore project would take 2½ years to build, operate for 15 to 20 years and employ about 250 people.