CLINTON DIVERTS YELLOWSTONE MINE.

Byline: Ron Fournier Associated Press 

Playing second fiddle to Bob Dole's coronation, President Clinton killed a gold mine project Monday in a land swap that drew election-year praise from environmentalists.

With lodge-pole pines framing a craggy mountain backdrop, the president declared, ``Yellowstone is more precious than gold.''

Administration officials closed the deal last week with Crown Butte Mines Inc., but Clinton saved the announcement for the first day of the Republican National Convention in San Diego - hoping media outlets looking for Democratic angles would spotlight the environmentally friendly event.

Crown Butte Mines, a Montana subsidiary of a Toronto-based company, agreed to give up its interests to the site in a national forest just north of the park. The company estimates $650 million worth of gold, silver and copper are buried in unexplored rock.

In exchange, the federal government will give the company $65 million worth of federal property. Negotiations lasting up to two years will determine what land the company gets.

Crown Butte also agreed to place $22.5 million in an escrow account to cover costs of cleaning up the site. Environmentalists said toxic wastes from the mine site threatened the region's pristine waterways and habitat.

The action could be a political plus for Clinton, whose internal polls show that Americans - especially women - list the environment as a top voting-booth issue. The company loses potentially valuable property, but sheds a legal and public relations headache.

And the deal comes with a potential loophole: White House aides said it does not restrict the company's use of federal land secured in a swap. Unless negotiations impose restrictions, the company's next dig could be at another environmentally sensitive spot.