Among Idaho’s precious watersheds and rivers, the South Fork Salmon River holds a special place as a key ecological haven for threatened fish species, as well as a prized whitewater recreation destination. However, the historic Stibnite mining area at the headwaters of the East Fork and South Fork rivers once ravaged the landscape and water quality with lasting environmental troubles to this day. Now, the river faces this historic threat anew with the proposed Stibnite Gold Project.
Mining company Perpetua Resources (formerly Midas Gold) is in the advanced stages of permitting a massive open-pit cyanide vat leach mine at the Stibnite site. Misleadingly, Perpetua markets this project as an opportunity for ecological restoration of this site.
However, on Thursday, May 9, 2024, the Idaho Board of Environmental Quality issued a decision invalidating Perpetua Resources’ air pollution permit for the proposed mine, striking a key blow against the project. As blasting and hauling operations at the proposed mine would emit massive amounts of arsenic-laden dust, the Board found that the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) failed to follow Idaho air pollution rules designed to protect people from exposure to toxic and carcinogenic pollutants when it issued a permit to Perpetua.
Wins like this are only made possible by the incredible supporters speaking up on behalf of this precious area, and the people who donate to make ICL’s work possible. Please consider contributing to ICL today so we can continue advocating for public health, clean water, and healthy fish, and avoid the decades of arsenic pollution the proposed mine would create.