Golden Sunlight is an open pit gold mine in Jefferson County. Image from the archives.
By Derf Johnson
You read that right. You may be asking: Didn’t Montana ban cyanide heap leach mining 25 years ago through a citizen initiative? Yes. Unfortunately, the initiative language also included a grandfathering clause for any currently active cyanide leaching operation with an active permit. However, the circumstances surrounding this permit transfer are dubious at best and raise serious concerns for the unique and fragile environment of the Revenue Flats area north of Ennis.
The operating permit for the Majesty Mine was originally issued in 1998 and included the use of cyanide in processing the ore. While the issuance of the permit was in advance of the cyanide ban, the mine only operated for a short period of time and then sat dormant for almost 25 years, in a state of disrepair and neglect. The Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) readily admits that “the once active gold and silver mine has not extracted or leached significant quantities of ore since 1999. The mine site has been partially reclaimed with activities including mine pit and waste rock pile recontouring, salvaged topsoil placement, and establishment of vegetation.”
For all intents and purposes, the permit should have lapsed due to the lack of any mining or ore production. What’s more, over the past decade of routine inspections conducted by the agency, DEQ noted a number of violations at the mine, including damaged fencing, cyanide barrels strewn about and punctured, and damaged liners for the impoundment. These violations persisted for over a decade, and this alone should have caused DEQ to suspend and vacate the permit. Instead, DEQ transferred the permit to an entirely new entity, relying on the original EIS from 1998 in transferring the permit. You’d be hard-pressed to find another agency that would allow nearly 30-year-old paperwork to lead to this type of approval.
This type of action raises serious questions. In particular, how many zombie, defunct mines are out there, with decades of non-compliance, that can simply just start up again? And is a 25+ year old environmental review really appropriate for re-permitting mines? MEIC and our partners are investigating this issue, as we have some major concerns over having another cyanide heap leach mine in our backyard.
This article was published in the October 2024 issue of Down To Earth.
