Voters in Montana turned down a ballot measure that would have overturned an earlier state prohibition on the use of cyanide in gold or silver mining.
Ballot initiative I-147, which had been championed by mining interests in the state, had received about 42% support, with 834 of 881 polling districts reporting.
The initiative, which would “allow open-pit mining for gold or silver using heap leaching or vat leaching with cyanide ore-processing reagents,” was put forward in response to a 1998 ballot initiative, I-137, which placed a ban on the use of cyanide in heap- and vat-leach gold and silver mining operations. About 52% of voters approved I-137 in that year’s plebiscite.
The failure of I-147 this year was bad news for
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