Published on November 17, 2020
After 75 days and over 8,000 of letters of support, the comment period on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for our project officially closed on October 28. This puts us one step closer to finally redeveloping and restoring the historical Stibnite Mining District in Valley County. So, what happens next?
The first priority for our team is to dive into the feedback that was collected during the comment period. We will review the thousands of comments to determine if further refinements can be made to improve the Stibnite Gold Project.
Based off of feedback submitted early in the comment period, we are already starting to look at ways we can, for example, lower water temperatures at the site and even further reduce the project footprint.
Regulators at the U.S. Forest Service are also going through the comments and using the information to continue moving the Stibnite Gold Project through the permiting process. For a review under the National Environmental Policy Act to be complete, the U.S. Forest Service will still need to address comments, and release a Final Environmental Impact Statement and a Record of Decision.
At this point, regulators anticipate releasing the Final Environmental Impact Statement in the second quarter of 2021 and a Record of Decision in the third quarter of 2021.
Before the mine can move forward from there, our team must also secure more than 50 permits for various aspects of our operations and set aside the funds necessary to cover the real costs of reclamation and restoration. These additional checks and balances are in place to make sure the project is done right and protects Idahoans and the environment.
Our team will continue to keep the community informed as we review the comments and move through the regulatory process. Please check our blog frequently for our analysis on the comments received and updates to the timeline.
