Environmental Groups Challenge Approval of Central Idaho Gold Mine Still Needing Permits

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): A coalition of environmental groups sued the Trump administration this week to try to thwart the approval of the Stibnite Gold Project, a planned gold and antimony mine in Central Idaho. Owned by Perpetua Resources, a Canadian mining company with offices in Idaho, the open-pit mine project received U.S. Forest Service approval in the waning days of the Biden administration last month. While the project is still waiting on a federal discharge permit and several state environmental permits, full-scale digging is scheduled to begin in 2028.

Six conservation groups, including the Idaho Conservation League and the Center for Biological Diversity, filed the lawsuit on Tuesday in U.S. District Court over concerns that federal officials failed to follow laws that protect the environment. Environmentalists are concerned that the project, which would use toxic chemicals to extract gold, could damage sensitive ecosystems and dwindling salmon populations near the border of the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness.

Located about 40 miles east of McCall at the site of decades-old mine remains that for years have leeched toxins into the Salmon River watershed, the area has previously been considered for federal superfund designation.

“The Stibnite Gold Project is the equivalent of high-risk, open-heart surgery for the South Fork Salmon River headwaters, and the watershed will be worse off as a result, not better,” John Robison, public lands and wildlife director for the Idaho Conservation League, said in an emailed statement.

The planned mine also is located within the Nez Perce Tribe’s traditional fishing and hunting grounds guaranteed under longstanding treaty rights with the U.S. Though not involved in the lawsuit filed this week, the tribe has similar environmental concerns and has previously sued Perpetua over the project.

“These are treaty-reserved life sources central to the identity, culture, and well-being of the Nimiipuu, the Nez Perce people,” Shannon Wheeler, their tribal chair, said in an emailed statement responding to the lawsuit, which called out the Forest Service for its approval of the mine. “The tribe will take all necessary steps to defend its treaty-reserved rights and life sources.”

Perpetua estimates there are 4.8 million ounces of gold at the mine, which is valued at about $13 billion. It also includes about 148 million pounds of antimony, a critical mineral important to U.S. defense and clean-energy technologies.

The company’s controlling shareholder is billionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson, a major Republican donor who was on the shortlist to become Treasury secretary for Trump’s second term, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Courtesy: www.idahostatesman.com