When it comes to environmental trends, the U.S. is often a few steps ahead of Canada. So it is good to see some indications that environmental activism in the U.S. is not entirely driven by hysteria. When the positive economic benefits of developing a mineral deposit come head to head with concerns for the environment, there are signs that reason is becoming an important factor south of the border. The U.S. Forest Service recently designated the Big Springs gold mine in Nevada as a national mining showcase. The 40,000- ton-per-day mining operation, owned by Independence Mining and Bull Run Mines, is on land administered by the Forest Service. By giving the mine its blessing, the agency, in effect, acknowledges that minerals can be extracted in an environmentally sound manner.
While many environmental regulations vary from state to state and even county to county, the Forest Service is a federal agency that has shown its willingness to accommodate mining when mining is able to meet its concerns.
In California, Viceroy Resource’s Castle Mountain project may finally get the green light to go into production. Viceroy has spent three years trying to the meet the concerns of both local and national environment groups and now finds it even has the blessing of the Sierra Club, an organization that demands compliance to stringent environmental standards.
It’s not exactly a red carpet being rolled out for mine development in the U.S., but these two developments show that mining can understand and meet the concerns that others have for protecting the environment.
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