New mining projects seeking ultra-rare elements at formerly abandoned mine sites along tributaries to Idaho's Salmon River offer to boost the United States' domestic supply chain for things like electric vehicles, fire retardants and weapons.
But tribes and environmental groups worry that expanded mining at one site — already severely contaminated — will increase contamination near and in a legendary wild river.
One project, the Stibnite Gold Project, is poised to conduct open-pit mining for gold and antimony near Yellow Pine, Idaho, about 72 miles west-southwest of Salmon and 57 miles southwest of the Idaho-Montana border west of Lost Trail Pass. Antimony is a semi-metal used in flame-retardant fabrics and composites, and alloys are used in batteries, ammunition, solder, electrical cable and weighted sailboat hulls.
The project is proposed for an abandoned open-pit mine that produced gold and tungsten, the latter of which was used to harden metal armor used in World War II. The new mine would be the only mine in the U.S. primarily producing antimony. Half of the new mining would take place at the old mine site; the other half would take place on previously undisturbed landscape. The mine is projected to produce 4.8 million ounces of gold ($8.47 billion) and 148 million pounds of antimony ($772 million) over a 12–15-year operational lifespan, following about three years of construction. The mine could employ up to 500 people.
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The project, located along the border of the Boise and Payette national forests, is being proposed by Perpetua Resources, a Boise-based company that was formerly the Vancouver, Canada-based Midas Gold. On Oct. 28, Payette National Forest Supervisor Linda Jackson released a supplemental draft environmental impact statement (EIS) that, if signed into a final decision, would allow the project to proceed.
The project is also located along the East Fork of the South Fork of the Salmon River, just outside the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness. The river, in fact, runs directly through the currently abandoned Yellow Pine Pit at the site. Salmon cannot travel upstream of the pit, blocking them from about 20 miles of river habitat.
"Fish haven’t been able to swim past the historic Yellow Pine pit since 1938, almost no topsoil can be found in the area, due to extensive erosion, and millions of tons of sediment are running into the waterways, degrading water quality and fish habitat," Perpetua states online about the site. "Arsenic and antimony from historic tailings leach into the waterways and waste dumps negatively impact water quality. Our plan will address these impacts and we’ve intentionally designed it so a lot of the restoration work will occur early on in the project."
Critics of the project, including the Nez Perce Tribe, Idaho Conservation League and Idaho Rivers United, worry that the project will create more contamination as it mines well beyond the historic mining area it says it will fix up. Idaho Rivers United will host webinars about the project on Nov. 17, Dec. 1 and Dec. 14.
"Spawning habitat for bull trout and Chinook salmon, abundant recreational opportunities, as well as deep cultural ties and treaty-reserved resources for the Nez Perce and Indigenous communities of the region are all at risk if this project is approved," Idaho River United said in a statement about the supplemental draft EIS. Quoting the document directly, the organization pointed out that the Forest Service determined the project would "have direct permanent impacts on water quality, as it would contribute new sources of mine waste material to the East Fork SFSR drainage.
"Perpetua’s plans include broad mitigation measures to 'restore the site,' however, the notion that additional mining is required in order to do so is simply bad policy and science," the group stated. "Even with the proposed measures, there will be permanent damage to bull trout habitat and water quality."
The project would also cause "restriction of public access to over 14,000 acres during the 20-year lifespan of the mine and subsequent restoration."
Fifty miles northeast of Stibnite, another new mine at an abandoned open-pit is now the only one of its kind operating in the U.S. The Idaho Cobalt Project, owned by Australia's Jervois Global, is set to become the only active cobalt mine in the U.S. when it begins shipping ore in 2023. A decade in development, the mine is located atop a plateau at 8,000 feet elevation about 22 miles west of Salmon and 43 miles southwest of the state line at Lost Trail Pass. It is located immediately west of the Moose fire that burned for months near Salmon this summer and fall. Like the Stibnite project, the Idaho Cobalt Project is just outside the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness. It sits above Panther Creek, a direct tributary to the main Salmon River.
The Idaho Cobalt Project, an underground mine, officially opened at the start of October. Cobalt is essential to batteries used in electric vehicles; it is increasingly in demand worldwide. Most of the world's cobalt comes from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where production is rife with child labor and other human-rights abuses, and is refined in China. A small amount of cobalt is produced as a byproduct at the Eagle Mine in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. That mine, primarily a copper and nickel mine, is set to close in 2026. The Idaho cobalt will be shipped to Brazil for refining.
The Idaho Cobalt Project has a projected eight-year lifespan, and in that time is expected to meet about 10% of U.S. demand for cobalt — enough to make batteries powering hundreds of thousands of cars. It could employ 150–200 people.
The new mine is at the site of the Blackbird Mine, a former open-pit mine from the mid-20th century that caused widespread contamination in the area.