The U.S. Forest Service released their final environmental impact statement and draft record of decision approving mining at Stibnite northeast of Cascade near the small community of Yellow Pine for a company called Perpetua Resources.
Perpetua Resources wants to mine for gold and antimony at this site. This decision also comes after China announced in August that they will stop exports of antimony.
Now the forest service will take 45 days to hear objections from the public and another 45 days to review those. The final record of decision could happen around the end of this year.
We have been following this story for years and we've toured the historic site at Stibnite. The president of Perpetua Resources Jon Cherry tells us construction could happen as soon as next summer.
"This is a really big decision we are really happy about this after eight years of the NEPA process," said Cherry. "There has been a lot of really hard work and this shows that even though it did take so long the process works and you end up with a better project for that."
This decision also comes on the heels of China announcing in August that they will ban the export of antimony, as 90% of the world's supply resides in China, Russia, and Tajikistan.
Stibnite would be the only domestic supply and this mineral is critical for developing technology and manufacturing equipment for national defense.
"So we'll produce about 8,000 tons per year of antimony," said Cherry. "We can meet about 35% of the U.S. demand including anything the military might need."
The forest service selected an alternative from the 2021 modified mine plan. It includes a 20-25 year project with construction, mining, and reclamation. The mining footprint doubled to more than 3,000 acres with three open pits. A road will have to be built through a roadless area as well as power lines.
Conservation groups don't believe the forest service did enough to protect the watershed of the South Fork of the Salmon River.
"The forest service’s plans really doesn’t address our core concerns," said John Robison of the Idaho Conservation League. "It raises more questions than it answers and leaves the site in a worse shape for clean water advocates like bull trout and west slope cutthroat trout."
The draft record of decision came out on Friday and the Idaho Conservation League told us their concerns so far are stream flows being reduced by 30% during operations, the removal of riperian areas that they believe will increase the water temperatures and the models didn't account for climate change.
The Stibnite sight is located near the headwaters of the East Fork of the South Fork of the Salmon River. And all that water flows downstream where the tribes, anglers, and boaters recreate.
"Idaho’s rivers are really too special to risk for a high-risk project like that particularly given the track record of cyanide vat leach gold mines across the west," said Robison.
Through the years of covering this issue we have found Idaho legislators and residents of the small town of Yellow Pine overwhelmingly support the project.
The history of mining at Stibnite dates back more then 100 years and the tungsten and antimony pulled out of there helped America win World War II. Perpetua Resources have already started cleaning up legacy mining impacts in the area.
"We’ve already spent around $17 million cleaning up the site even before we begin to build a mine out there," said Cherry. "The overall economic impact to the local communities up there (and the antimony) makes it a win win win."
However, the Idaho Conservation League believes the plan needs to go back to the drawing board and they will object during the 45-day period. Robison believes the answer to cleaning up mining is not more mining and this project has too much risk of polluting the water.
"We would love to see the site restored, but we want to make sure it is restored in a way that doesn’t elevate the risks and leave behind an even bigger legacy of pollution," said Robison.
