South Dakota has told a gold- and silver-mining
company that it can’t just walk away from its operation in the
Black Hills, leaving the environmental damage behind. In May, the
state obtained an emergency restraining order preventing the
company, Brohm Mining, from abandoning treatment of collection
ponds containing sulphuric acid and cyanide. Owners of the Gilt
Edge Mine had said they could no longer afford to maintain their
operation.
In asking the court for an
injunction requiring Brohm to stay on-site until cleanup is
complete, South Dakota officials said the mining company’s $6
million cash bond for cleanup was some $4 million short of the
money needed. They also said that if collection ponds were left
untreated for even a few days, they could overflow and poison Bear
Butte Creek and the Belle Fourche River.
Alan
Bell, president of Brohm’s parent company, Dakota Mining, says that
Brohm doesn’t want to abandon its property, but it does need more
gold to pay its bills. The company proposed expanding its operation
in the Black Hills National Forest in 1994, but a coalition of
citizens’ groups and the Sioux tribe, represented by the Western
Mining Action Project, stalled the plan. “It’s those delays,” says
Bell, “that have caused the financial jeopardy of the company.”
“This is Summitville III,
another taxpayer liability,” says Roger Flynn of the Western Mining
Action Project, referring to the Summitville gold mine in Colorado,
where in 1992 Galactic Resources left the federal government with a
cleanup bill of $120 million. He also notes that in January,
Pegasus Gold walked away from the Zortman-Landusky mine in Montana,
leaving the state with an estimated $4 million
mess.
“Companies underestimate
the severity of acid mine drainage,” says Flynn, “and they never
think they’ll be held accountable.” – Jennifer
Chergo
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Big mines leave a big mess.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
