The draft environmental impact statement (EIS) for the Stibnite gold project will be made available next month, allowing the public to have their say on the proposed redevelopment and restoration of the brownfields project in a historical mining area of Valley county, Idaho.
TSX-listed Midas Gold says the US Forest Service (USFS) has provided a timeframe for the permitting, which also indicated that a final EIS and draft record of decision (ROD) are expected in the fourth quarter of 2020, with the final ROD to be issued in the first quarter of 2021.
The USFS is the lead agency working in cooperation with the six other federal, state and local agencies responsible for permitting the project.
“After years of thorough analysis and review, we are much closer to fully realising the benefits of the Stibnite gold project. Through redevelopment of a brownfields site, this project is designed to restore fish habitat, reconnect salmon to their native spawning grounds and address numerous legacy impacts from historical mining activities to improve water quality, said Midas Gold Idaho CEO Laurel Sayer in a media statement.
If permitted, the mine would bring jobs and investment to rural Idaho, while bringing environmental restoration to a long-abandoned mine site.
The company is facing litigation over claims relating to water impacts owing to historical mining activity prior to Midas’ involvement in the site. The Nez Perce Tribe filed legal action in the US District Court of Idaho in August, which the company is defending.
Midas has requested the federal court to stay the proceedings, while negotiations with the US Environmental Protection Agency, the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality and the USFS are proceeding on an agreement to further address site conditions under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). The corporation and its subsidiaries are also requesting the court to dismiss the action. Should such an agreement be concluded, the Tribe’s lawsuit is required to be dismissed under CERCLA.
“Neither Midas Gold nor its subsidiaries caused the current water quality issues at the site. Neither Midas Gold, nor its subsidiaries have ever conducted any mining operations at site and, therefore, have no control, nor responsibility for any pollutant discharges on the site,” said the company.
Midas stated that its actions on the project site had been limited to studying current mineral resource potential and environmental conditions in the Stibnite mining district, evaluating the optimal solutions for remediation and restoration and presenting those solutions to the governmental agencies with appropriate regulatory authority as part of an integrated redevelopment plan for the site.
Meanwhile, the corporation said that the feasibility study for the project would be completed following the issuance of the draft EIS, to ensure that project components included in the draft EIS were addressed in the study.