Oregon issues draft consolidated permit for proposed gold mine near vale

On Monday, the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries announced it had completed compiling multiple state permits into a draft consolidated permit that, if finalized, would allow Nevada-based Paramount Gold to construct Oregon’s first modern-day gold mine. Since 2017, the company has planned to use cyanide to extract gold and silver across hundreds of acres about 35 km south of Vale in Malheur County, and it still requires approvals from both state and federal regulators through its subsidiary, Calico Resources.

The draft consolidated permit can be revised based on public input and sets parameters intended to prevent harm to people and the environment, including measures to keep chemical byproducts out of drinking water and to avoid disorienting sage grouse with noise and light. The draft and instructions for submitting comments are available on DOGAMI’s website, and state regulators will hold a public hearing in Vale on Jan. 29. “We are really interested in how the public is going to engage and respond to these draft permits, and I want to highlight that we welcome all feedback,” said Sarah Lewis, DOGAMI’s program manager of mineral lands reclamation.

Paramount executives welcomed the draft consolidated permit. “This is a landmark achievement for both Grassy Mountain and the State of Oregon,” Paramount chief executive officer Rachel Goldman said in a statement. The project also awaits a federal decision as environmental review continues; a U.S. Bureau of Land Management spokesperson said the agency plans to announce a decision in January. Federal documents describe a process in which ore would be mixed with cyanide in large tanks, with the resulting slurry stored in lined ponds and the wastewater reused during mining. After about eight years of operation, remaining waste would be buried to resemble a hill. Oregon regulators require the landfill’s cyanide levels to be reduced “to the lowest practicable level,” and Paramount says it will use leak-detection tools to ensure chemicals do not migrate from the landfill.

Most active gold mines in the United States use cyanide to dissolve precious metals from ore, and many are in Nevada, which sits at the center of the North American Great Basin—a geological region extending into Oregon, Utah, Idaho and part of California where tectonic history has left gold deposits. Separately, Australia-based Jindalee Resources plans lithium exploration near the Nevada border about 225 km southeast of Paramount’s planned site, and that exploratory work also risks encroaching on sage grouse.