perpetua groundbreaking

The groundbreaking ceremony involves 60 participants, including the Director of the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality Jess Byrne, Kimberly Glineski from the Idaho Department of Commerce, Mayor of Cascade Judy Nissula, residents of the village of Yellow Pine, IMCO Construction CEO Tyler Kimberley, President and CEO of Perpetua Resources Laurel Sayer and many others. (Photo: Perpetua Resources)

Recently, community members, government officials and local business leaders joined Perpetua Resources Corp. at a groundbreaking ceremony to mark the beginning of early cleanup activities and water quality improvements to benefit the historic Stibnite mining district in Idaho. The company said after 100 years of mining activity, millions of tons of unconstrained tailings and mine waste left behind by previous operators has been degrading water quality for decades. Perpetua is making a multimillion-dollar investment designed to improve environmental conditions at the historic site. The first four-year phase of the project includes removing 325,000 tons of legacy waste and tailings away from the river and rerouting streams to keep clean water clean. High-ranking elected officials from across the state agreed the work being done by Perpetua Resources is a model for private investment to help address legacy environmental issues at historic mine sites.

“We did not cause the contamination that has worsened water quality in the historic Stibnite Mining District for decades, but we are part of the solution,” Perpetua CEO Laurel Sayer said. “Today, we put our commitments into action and are demonstrating that when we work together, big ideas can become reality.”

Perpetua worked with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for more than three years to receive permission to conduct time critical, early action cleanup activities. After consultation with other interested parties, including the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, Perpetua Resources, the EPA and USDA signed an administrative settlement agreement and order on consent in 2021 paving the way for Perpetua to address legacy issues in key areas of the Stibnite district.

“Idaho’s natural resources can contribute a steady domestic supply of the materials we need to advance our economy,” Idaho Gov. Brad Little said. “At the same time, cleanup projects like you see here at Stibnite are a critical part of the future of responsible mining in Idaho. Idaho has a rich history of collaborative work that balances economic prosperity with environmental stewardship. Perpetua Resources is another great example of this responsible balance, and I applaud their efforts to work with the respective agencies to make cleaning up the historic Stibnite mine site a reality.”

Mining in the historic Stibnite Mining District first started in 1899. Stibnite then gained national significance during World War II when the U.S. Government commissioned antimony and tungsten production from the site to help with the war effort. In fact, Stibnite produced the majority of both minerals used by the U.S. during World War II and the U.S. Munitions Board credited the mine for shortening World War II by a year and saving a million American lives.

Unfortunately, most of the mining that occurred at Stibnite took place long before modern protections and regulations were established. As a result, the site was never fully reclaimed. Today, 10.5 million tons of unlined tailings and waste leach arsenic and antimony into ground and surface water, the East Fork of the South Fork of the Salmon River flows into an abandoned mining pit and habitat conditions are degraded. Perpetua Resources has proposed a redevelopment plan to mine the site for gold and the critical mineral antimony, while concurrently restoring the environment.

While the Stibnite gold project is currently under regulatory review, early cleanup actions are starting now. Perpetua, the EPA and the U.S. Forest Service have worked together to develop a detailed scope of work for Phase One cleanup activities since signing the agreement in early 2021. IMCO Construction was selected to oversee water quality improvements taking place this summer, which will include lining, improving and rerouting stream channels on site to keep clean water from interacting with old waste dumps on site, and removing the Defense Minerals Exploration Administration legacy waste rock dump from within and along a tributary to the East Fork of the South Fork of the Salmon River and restoring the original streamflow course.

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