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Forest Service Seeks Public Input on Mining Plan

Posted on: Tuesday, 9 May 2006, 09:02 CDT

By Rocky Barker, The Idaho Statesman, Boise

May 9--Atlanta Gold Corp.'s revised mining plan is ready for review by federal and state agencies, the U.S. Forest Service said Monday. The agency said it would hold a series of public meetings later this month to talk about it.

The public will have a chance to talk to Forest Service and Atlanta Gold officials about the $41 million gold mine two miles from Atlanta where the Canadian company hopes to produce 500,000 ounces of gold over seven to 10 years.

Boise National Forest Supervisor Dick Smith formally accepted the company's revised plan, keeping alive the environmental analysis of the project begun in 2003. The Forest Service hopes to have a draft environmental-impact statement out by the end of the year with a final decision in 2007.

Atlanta Gold plans to build two open pits on the mountain, where mines have operated on and off since 1864. The company would leach the gold from the ore by seeping cyanide solution through crushed ore on a lined pad.

Critics worry about the cyanide process and its potential to add pollution to the Boise River.

Long a source of irrigation water for crops, the river also is popular for fishing and other recreation. Critics also worry about the hauling of diesel fuel and other hazardous materials up winding forest roads that regularly wash out.

Atlanta Gold changed its plans from hauling the diesel year-round to stockpiling it through the summer months to keep tanker trucks off the icy winter roads.

But storing the diesel in in the headwaters of the Boise River also is risky, said John Robison, public lands director of the Idaho Conservation League. "They simply shift the risks from along the headwaters to the heart of the headwaters," Robison said.

Other changes include:

-- The company's main base of operations, where miners would stay and fuel and equipment would be stored, would move to the confluence of the Yuba River and Decker Creek from the Decker/Flint creek drainage upstream on the Middle Fork of the Boise River.

-- Crushing a stack of rock on the heap-leaching pads would stop in the winter.

-- Only buses and trucks carrying miners would use the Middle Fork Boise River Road during the winter. The Edna Creek/Swanholm Summit route would be used only during the summer.

The changes have been significant enough to warrant a new round of public meetings, Smith said.

"Following public and agency review of the current issues, the next major step is to develop alternatives responding to those issues with a thorough public review and comment process," Smith said.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Idaho Statesman, Boise

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Source: The Idaho Statesman, Boise

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