DEQ Holding Public Comment for Draft EIS for Proposed Tailings Reprocessing Project at GSM

The Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has released a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to analyze the potential environmental impacts from a proposed tailing reprocessing project at the Golden Sunlight Mine (GSM). GSM is located approximately five miles northeast of Whitehall, Montana in Jefferson County.

The draft statement is available for review at the Whitehall Community Library during regular business hours. Public comment is open from June 15, 2021 to July 2021. The DEQ hosted a public meeting on Tuesday, June 29th where the public was able to obtain information on the proposed project and an opportunity to submit comments.

The project, an amendment to their current operating permit under the Metal Mine Reclamation Act, would allow Golden Sunlight to excavate and reprocess tailings and extend the life of the mine up to 12 years. Golden Sunlight would excavate tailings in Tailing Storage Facility 1 using conventional methods, move the material to a re-pulping plant, pump the slurried tailings to the flotation plant in the mill, and reprocess the tailings to extract a gold and sulfide concentrate. Approximately 26 million tons of tailings would be reprocessed, and the remaining product would be disposed in an onsite pit. After excavation, the tailings facility footprint would be reclaimed for land uses such as grazing, recreation and wildlife habitat. All proposed activities would occur within the existing permitted disturbance boundary and would not include any new disturbance areas.

The draft EIS describes the proposed action, no action, and DEQ’s preferred alternative and permit stipulations. Impacts to resource areas from these actions are analyzed within the draft EIS. The preferred alternative could change in response to public comment on the Draft EIS, new information, or new analysis that might be needed in preparing the Final EIS.

All comments become part of the public record for this project and are available for public review, along with the name(s) of the commenter(s). The Draft EIS has been posted on DEQ’s website as well. To submit comments or view the Draft EIS, visit the DEQ website at http://deq.mt.gov/Public/publiccomment.

Written comments maybe submitted via electronic mail at mepa@mt.gov or postal mail at: Craig Jones, Department of Environmental Quality, PO Box 2009001, Helena, MT 59601.