Lakota Tribes unite against ‘modern Gold Rush’ in the Black Hills

 

Part three: Flash forward – Contamination in the Black Hills 

 

After sacking the riches from the tribal loss of hunting, fishing, gathering and ceremonial resources, Homestake left behind a Superfund site. Its contamination to Whitewood Creek qualified an 18-mile stretch of this upper Missouri tributary for federal emergency cleanup funding. 

In 1981 the waterway became a candidate for the National Priority Listing, which provides taxpayer dollars for the worst hazardous waste sites. The Superfund channels money for EPA to take charge of contaminated locations when the polluters don’t.

Arsenic levels found in the waste stream forced the closure of all private wells at homes nearby. Homestake’s successor agreed to help pay for remediation nine years later after the federal government sued the companies for accountability. Barrick Gold Corp., the Canadian partner that took over the liability, built a water processing plant. It also built and maintains the Grizzly Gulch tailings impoundment, posing the threat of dam collapse. 

The Whitewood Creek Superfund Site joined the former Edgemont uranium mill and the Riley Pass Abandoned Uranium Mine on the National Priority List in the Black Hills area. Another Superfund site was soon to emerge when the Canadian Brohm Mining Corp. declared bankruptcy just as it was about to lose a settlement dispute over its acid rock drainage from the Gilt Edge Mine in 1992. 

The Gilt Edge work targets heavy metals used in modern mining: cyanide, arsenic, chromium III and VI, copper, lead, mercury, nickel, selenium, silver, thallium, and zinc. About $140 million of public money has been spent to capture this hazardous runoff from the abandoned open pit mountain-top removal mine at Gilt Edge. The pit generates approximately 95 million gallons of poisonous acid rock drainage a year, and no end to the remediation is in view.

Citing budget limitations, EPA denies citizens’ petitions for the cleanup of some 300 more unreclaimed mines and prospects. These old “legacy” stakes leach radioactive contaminants into the Missouri’s tributary Cheyenne River, as well as groundwater tables, according to the Report on Water Tests for Radioactive Contamination. The non-profit Defenders of the Black Hills released the report based on scientist-led citizen monitoring.

Meanwhile, the only working large-scale gold mine in the state, Wharf Mine, has registered 216 “accidental” spills at its open pit mountaintop removal locations from 1983 to 2023, according to the state. That is 5.4 toxic leaks a year averaged over the life so far of the cyanide heap-leaching operation. In multiple accident reports, the mine operators did not record the discharge volumes authorities requested be submitted, according to testimony offered in a 2023 case contesting a Wharf expansion application.

In addition, the state permits the mine to discharge water pollutants in amounts larger than EPA recommendations. Wharf Mine dumps selenium, nitrates, ammonia, coliforms, and cyanide into False Bottom Creek and other drinking water and fishing sources. Chicago-based Coeur Mining Co. plans to expand operations at the Wharf Mine and adjacent property through 2029. 

Mining promoters promise they will clean up the past spoils — if only they can do it while they undertake new projects. Agnico Eagle Corp. is eyeing the chance to remine at Gilt Edge. Another company, Dakota Gold Corp., is digging into properties historically in Barrick’s portfolio. 

Patrick Malone, chief sustainability officer of Dakota Gold Corp., recently showcased this approach in a local press club presentation. “By going into these previously historically disturbed areas it gives us a chance to fix things,” said Malone “We can address existing concerns. That’s going to cost money. Is it going to come from the taxpayers or is it going to be coming from new projects like us where we can incorporate these things into our mine plans?”

Currently, mining and related businesses annually contribute $252 million in labor income and $502 million to state GDP, according to the South Dakota Mineral Industries Association. The group formed in 2022 because “there is a lot of attention on the industry and the negative side of that is being told,” Executive Director Quinn Neff said. “I think it is very important that the association forms to provide the other side of the story for the industry and what the benefits are to the communities here.” 

Dakota Gold Corp. advertises that South Dakota “is a safe low-cost jurisdiction with a pro-mining government that supports responsible mine development and permitted exploration.”

Critics doubt the state and company have committed to “responsible” mining because state regulators set Dakota Gold Corp.’s liability bond at a one-time fee of $20,000 for drilling on dozens of tracts covering 46,000 acres of claims in Lawrence County. 

Dakota Gold Corp. obtained more than 2,000 acres in the Maitland Gold Project from Barrick, the second-largest gold mining operation in the world. For the last two years, the project has drawn resident complaints regarding at least 16 drilling sites that bring in heavy truck traffic along the steep winding gravel road between Central City and Spearfish. 

Since it is on private property, no public hearings have been required.

(Contact Talli Nauman at  buffalo.gal10@gmail.com)

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