Vancouver — The stalled permitting process for Glamis Gold‘s (GLG-T) Imperial project in Southern California got a boost after the U.S. Interior’s Bureau of Land Management reversed a legal opinion that effectively blocked the mining project.
The opinion to block the project was issued by the Clinton administration, under former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, citing that the open pit project was located near Indian cultural and religious sites. Babbitt had said the sites sacred to the Quechan Tribe would be irreparably harmed by opening the mine on 1,571 acres of Bureau Land Management property about 45 miles northwest of El Centro, Calif., near the border with Arizona.
New changes by the Interior Department, include the elimination of the interior secretary’s short-lived authority to block new mines on federal land where they could harm communities and the environment. The department has advised that the negative record of decision be vacated paving the way for Glamis to once again move forward on permitting the project.
“We are extremely pleased with this turn of events,” says Glamis’s CEO Kevin McArthur. ” We look forward to working with all concerned parties in finalizing the permitting process.”
The rules were adopted under President Clinton, but new Interior Secretary Gale Norton put the “veto power” on hold when she took office in January. The power will be eliminated for good as part of the new rules, scheduled to go into effect on Oct. 30.
Before Clinton’s regulations, mining on public lands was governed by regulations approved in 1980. In March, the Bureau of Land Management proposed suspending Clinton’s regulations.
But the Bush administration has decided to keep two standards that regulate the use of cyanide in the leaching of gold and in controlling the acid that drains from rocks exposed to air and water. It also is retaining the new reclamation bond.
“The environmental community for years has advocated strict bonding standards for all operations and strong performance standards to protect resources from cyanide and acid rock drainage,” says Interior spokesman, Eric Ruff. “We agree, and that’s why we have kept these key provisions from the previous administration’s rule intact.”
The bond requires all mining operations, large and small, to prove before opening a mine that they can pay for damages once it is closed. The bond must be equal to 100% of the estimated cleanup cost.
The new regulations issued by Interior’s Bureau of Land Management, which manages 264 million acres of federal land, mostly in 12 Western states, will take effect on Dec. 31.
“We are happy with the ruling but not sure where the procedure goes from here,” said Dave Hyatt, Glamis’ vice president for investor relations. “For now we are focusing on the Marigold expansion project in Nevada.”
Located 8 miles northeast of Picacho, Imperial hosts proven and probable reserves of 86 million tonnes grading 0.55 grams gold per tonne.
Interior Secretary Norton also will ask Congress to join with the Bush administration in an effort to overhaul mining laws dating back to 1872.
According to the National Mining Association, the value of mining for metals in the U.S. fell from US$13 billion in 1996 to $9.9 billion in 2000.
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