Forest Service accepts comments on Black Hills gold prospecting

Volunteers in Rapid City regularly held signs during December and January to warn the public of modern mining’s threats to water supplies. This one was at Rushmore Civic Center during the Lakota Nation Invitational tournament. Photo courtesy Black Hills Clean Water Alliance

RAPID CITY – Under pressure from Native and other community members throughout the past year, the Black Hills National Forest administration responded Jan. 6 with a 10-day advance notice of its highly anticipated scoping session on gold exploration planned upstream from this city’s Pactola drinking water reservoir.
The federal agency invited the public to take part in the 5 p.m. session at its Mystic Ranger District headquarters here on Jan. 16. Personnel has decided to name the gold prospecting operation the F3 Jenny Gulch Exploration Drilling Project.
F3 Gold is the name of a private prospecting company owned by Minneapolis geologists Robert Bergmann and Brian Lentz. It has nearly 2,500 active mining claims located in the Black Hills counties of Lawrence, Pennington and Custer.
Their proposal, also known as the Silver City Project, calls for exploratory diamond drilling in up to 42 locations just north of Pactola Reservoir’s Rapid Creek inlet at Silver City, in Pennington County, according to the newly released scoping letter.
“Tell the Forest Service what you think about proposed gold exploration,” Black Hills Clean Water Alliance urged in a public announcement supporting the U.S. Forest Service invitation to participate in the first scoping session.
“Exploration leads to mining. Gold mining has a long history of polluting Black Hills water,” the local grassroots organization stated. “The Forest Service did not start tribal consultation early enough on this project,” it added. “Tribal consultation should come first,” it warned.
That obligation is spelled out in the National Historic Preservation Act and the National Environmental Protection Act, but various federal agencies’ failures to comply have ensnared tribes and taxpayers in costly ongoing litigation.
Adherents of Black Hills Clean Water Alliance presented Mystic District Ranger Nancy Veres with a petition on March 28, 2019, calling for government-to-government consultation with tribes on the gold prospecting plans.
“Tribal consultation is crucial,” the petition stated, adding, “Like much of the Black Hills, this area may contain loci of historical, spiritual, and cultural importance to Lakota and other indigenous peoples.”
The Forest Service subsequently swapped out Veres for current District Ranger Jim Gubbels.
Company principles Bergman and Lentz have already sustained consultation with South Dakota state government representatives. They met with Gov. Kristi Noem and Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources Steve Pirner at the Capitol on June 4, 2019.
F3 Gold recognizes in its publicity that “Rapid Creek is a critical water source for the Black Hills, including both wildlife and local residents.” It has 79 claims within five miles upstream from Pactola’s inlet.
The company notes, “We are committed to environmental responsibility” and promises, “F3 Gold will not source any water from Rapid Creek or any other creek in the Black Hills.”
The proposal is to use existing Forest Service and other public roads and to build more roads to transport heavy equipment to the dozens of drill pads that would be excavated within a 10-mile perimeter.
The expectation is for a year’s worth of drilling activity and a half-year of reclamation, F3 Gold says.
The first scoping meeting to discuss this includes a presentation at the Black Hills National Forest building at 8221 South Mt. Rushmore Road, on the south side of Rapid City, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Comments are currently being accepted at the same address and the zip code of 57702 through Feb. 5. They can be submitted in writing to Forest Service geologist Gary Haag via facsimile at 605-343-7134. Put “F3 Jenny Gulch Exploration” in the title of the submission.
A comment form is available at www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=57428

(Contact Talli Nauman at talli.nauman@gmail.com)

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