The Stibnite Gold Mine Project in Central Idaho’s Payette National Forest has received final approval from the U.S. Forest Service, paving the way for what may grow to be one of the country’s biggest gold mines.
At the Stibnite Gold Mine, a business called Perpetua Resources, formerly known as Midas Gold, is looking to start mining gold, silver, and the element antimony again. The site has been mined since the Thunder Mountain Gold Rush in 1899. The World War II effort benefited from the metals mined in Stibnite.
However, the Idaho Capital Sun earlier claimed that by 1992, mining had stopped and Stibnite’s open pit mine had been abandoned, contaminating the East Fork of the South Fork of the Salmon River with sediment and arsenic.
GET THE HEADLINES FOR THE MORNING.
According to Perpetua Resources, antimony and gold are still abundant in stibnite. In addition to reprocessing and securely storing ancient mine tailings, the corporation has committed to cleaning up some of the waste from historic mines and restoring some fish habitat and streams.
Perpetua Resources hailed clearance of the mine in a statement issued Monday. The corporation touted the mining of antimony, a chemical element found in minerals that, according to Perpetua Resources, can be used to build munitions and liquid metal batteries, and highlighted the jobs it will create.
The approval of the Stibnite Gold Mine, according to Perpetua Resources officials, opens up one of the biggest domestic sources of antimony, which the business claims China is limiting exports of.
We are overjoyed to get the Forest Service’s final record of decision. According to a written statement from Perpetua Resources’ president and CEO, Jon Cherry. The Stibnite Gold Project now belongs to a select group of American projects that have passed NEPA (the National Environmental Policy Act) thanks to its permission. Our communities, the environment, the economy, and our national security can all benefit greatly from the Stibnite Gold Project.
Permitting has taken eight years, according to Perpetua Resources executives.
Nez Perce Tribe and conservationists claim that the mine will worsen the situation for Idaho’s public lands and endangered salmon.
The Nez Perce Tribe and conservation organizations, such as the Idaho Conservation League, opposed Stibnite’s license, arguing that a return to mine would damage a far wider area of forest than the previous operation and could endanger the habitat of endangered fish.
The Stibnite Gold Mine is situated in Valley County, just beyond the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness boundary, close to the little community of Yellow Pine. The largest contiguous wilderness region in the lower 48 is the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness. Prominent mountains, whitewater rivers, deep valleys, and a variety of plant and animal species, such as wolves, bears, beavers, endangered wolverines, and endangered salmon, can all be found in the untamed wilderness area.
Critics claimed that Perpetua Resources and Stibnite were not doing enough to save the environment and salmon.
According to a written statement by John Robison, the public lands and wildlife director for the Idaho Conservation League, the Stibnite Gold Project is the equivalent of high-risk, open heart surgery for the East Fork South Fork Salmon River, and the watershed would suffer rather than improve. We are extremely upset that the Forest Service rejected our recommendations to address serious project faults. Nothing is better for the ecology than constructing the Stibnite Gold Project, according to the Forest Service’s own analysis.
As previously reported by the Idaho Capital Sun, the U.S. Forest Service granted a draft approval in September to resume mining at Stibnite.
The Republican congressional delegation from Idaho is in favor of approving the Stibnite Gold Mine.
In a written statement, U.S. Representatives Russ Fulcher and Mike Simpson, as well as U.S. Senators Jim Risch and Mike Crapo, all four members of Idaho’s congressional delegation praised the mine’s approval. The Republican lawmaker emphasized antimony mining in their speech.
We have allowed China to control vital resource output for far too long. In a joint written statement released Monday, Crapo, Fulcher, Risch, and Simpson stated that this Record of Decision is an essential first step in furthering the production of American antimony and bolstering our national defense. However, in order to fully utilize the resources in our backyard and effectively compete with China, we need to drastically change the permission procedures.
Although antimony is a valuable resource, officials from the Idaho Conservation League stated that the Stibnite Gold Mine is primarily focused on gold, which would account for 94% of the project’s earnings.
To be clear, this is a gold mine that is funded by taxpayers, Robison stated. A targeted antimony mining proposal with significantly less surface disturbance, mine waste, and overall impact was never presented by Perpetua, and the Forest Service never examined it. Furthermore, a minor amount of antimony in a gold project shouldn’t excuse someone from a project that could cause irreversible injury.
The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality said in a news release on Monday that it is issuing Perpetua Resources a preliminary draft permit for Idaho Pollutant Discharge Elimination Systems, or IPEDS. After the evaluation, the draft permit and any changes will be made available for public review on the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality’s website, according to officials.
OUR WORK IS MADE POSSIBLE BY YOU.
Note: Every piece of content is rigorously reviewed by our team of experienced writers and editors to ensure its accuracy. Our writers use credible sources and adhere to strict fact-checking protocols to verify all claims and data before publication. If an error is identified, we promptly correct it and strive for transparency in all updates, feel free to reach out to us via email. We appreciate your trust and support!
