A gold mining company has discovered what could be the largest American deposit in decades, but its proximity to Yellowstone National Park has regional environmentalists braced for a fight.
Crown Butte Mines of Billings, Mont., was to dig one underground and two open-pit mines at the New World Mining District just north of Cooke City, Mont. The site is about 2.5 miles north of the park's northeast corner and another 2.5 miles from the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness.Crown Butte estimates it will mine about 4.2 million tons of ore, with each ton yielding 0.4 ounces of gold. At current prices hovering near $350 an ounce, that could mean a production of more than $500 million, not including silver and copper produced on the site.
The mine is proposed for an eight-year life after two years of construction.
Company officials say the mine would support about 140 workers, most from Cody and Powell, during the operation and more during construction.
Environmentalists, meanwhile, fear the proj-ect may do more harm than good to the region's economy over the years. If the environment is degraded, the area's tourist and recreation base could be threatened, according to officials within the Greater Yellowstone coalition.
With so many tons of waste rock, some going back in the ground as backfill and some going to a tailings pile, the landscape could be difficult to reclaim to its original condition, said Jeanne-Marie Souvigney of the coalition.
"We don't see that there's any way that this project can be reclaimed," Souvigney said. "Because of the alpine areas, we aren't convinced."
Furthermore, she said the site for the tailing pile is at the headwaters of three pristine tributaries to the Yellowstone River System.
But Crown Butte President Dave Rovig said the mine is unlikely to alter scenic or recreational values.
The site is ringed by mountains not in the park or the wilderness, so mining activity will be obscured from those recreation areas.
"There are some places where if you climb high enough on mountains in the wilderness or the park, you could see some evidence of our activity, but very little," he said.