BACKSTORY
In 1998, Dakota Mining Corp. abandoned the Stibnite mine in Idaho’s Payette National Forest. After a century of mining, nearly 4 million cubic yards of tailings and cyanide-tainted water threatened the source of the Salmon River’s South Fork, with reclamation estimated at more than $1 million (“Paying for a gold mine,” HCN, 3/15/99). In 2016, Midas Gold Corp. proposed building one of the nation’s largest open-pit gold mines at the site and also producing antimony for batteries and munitions. Midas has promised to remedy earlier mining damage, calling its planning document a “plan of restoration and operations” rather than just a “plan of operations.”
FOLLOWUP
Tribes and conservation groups have expressed growing skepticism, since nearly 60 percent of development would take place on previously un-mined land. In early October, the Nez Perce Tribe announced its formal opposition, citing potential harm to treaty rights and fish. A draft environmental impact statement is expected in 2019, with a final decision from the Forest Service in 2020.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Critics skeptical of mining company’s plans for restoration.
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