Midas Gold in the community: A look back on 2016

Published on December 19, 2016

2016 has been a wonderful year for Midas Gold. We officially submitted our plan for the Stibnite Gold Project to the U.S. Forest Service, we made strides in cleaning up the site and we were able to spend a lot of time growing and strengthening relationships in our community.

This year, our team had more than 6,000 interactions with individuals across Idaho. We brought 200 people up to the Stibnite Gold Project Site, gave close to 700 hours of our time to volunteer projects and donated thousands of dollars to causes and organizations we believe in.

Idaho is our company’s home, it is our employees’ home, and we feel strongly about giving back to the community that has given so much to us.

We volunteered in the schools teaching students about geology, sponsored the Idaho Jr. Steelheads hockey team, served breakfast to the community during the Huckleberry Festival, gave away scholarships so children could learn to ski, helped organize the Capitol Christmas Tree children’s parade in McCall and much more.

While highlighting every activity our employees were involved with is nearly impossible (they were out in the community every single week over the last year), we wanted to take a moment to reflect on some of our favorite activities of 2016.

Until this year, it was difficult for the Valley County Sheriff’s Office, the Yellow Pine Fire Department and others to communicate over the radio in and around Yellow Pine. Radio communication is critical during an emergency and we wanted to help our first responders and the community fix this problem. A 40-foot radio tower was donated to the Cascade Fire District. Valley County Emergency Management set aside $20,000 for the project and Midas Gold contributed another $4,000 worth of materials, supplies, equipment time and man hours to help the Yellow Pine Fire Department install the new equipment. This partnership greatly improved emergency communications in Yellow Pine and the surrounding area, making it safer for the families who live and work there and people visiting the area.

We are always looking for ways to share our passion about the earth’s resources with others. This year, our senior GIS specialist, Ken Assmus, taught several Mining in Society Merit Badge classes at Boy Scout of America STEM University. The course teaches Boy Scouts about the critical role minerals play in our everyday lives, the precautions miners follow so they stay safe on the job and the types of minerals mined near them. The kids had a lot of fun, especially when they were able to try on safety equipment used by miners.

Caring for the environment is one of Midas Gold’s core values. Three years ago, we adopted a two-mile stretch of Highway 55 near Cascade so we could help keep the area clean and community beautiful. This spring and fall, a group of our employees spent their days picking up litter along the highway. While it is unfortunate to see how much trash was dumped by the side of road, we are happy we could help clean it up and make sure the litter ended up in the right place.

Thank you to all of the organizations who allowed us to be a partner in 2016 and to the community members, new and old, who make us feel like we are part of something bigger than ourselves. In the New Year, we look forward to meeting even more of our neighbors, getting the opportunity to work alongside you on the projects that matter most and continuing to invest in the great place we consider home.