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Montana DEQ To Approve Reprocessing Of Minerals In Sunlight Mine

Yellowstone Public Radio | By Kayla Desroches
Published August 30, 2021 at 5:38 AM MDT

A shuttered southwest Montana gold mine that plans to extract metals from its mining waste is one step closer to state approval Friday.

The Montana Department of Environmental Quality on Friday released its Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Golden Sunlight Mine about 5 miles northeast of Whitehall in Jefferson County.

Barrick Gold Corporation closed its mine in 2019 and, in 2020, applied to reprocess mine waste to extract a gold and sulfide concentrate. Barrick says the corporation intends to ship the site’s output to Nevada.

DEQ says reprocessing the mine’s waste will take place within the facility’s existing footprint and extend the site’s life by about 12 years. DEQ must publish its final decision no less than 15 days after the release of its Final Environmental Impact Statement.

Copyright 2021 Yellowstone Public Radio. To see more, visit Yellowstone Public Radio.

Tags
Montana News Golden Sunlight MineMontana Department of Environmental QualityBarrick Gold CorporationminingEnvironment
Kayla Desroches
Kayla Desroches reports for Yellowstone Public Radio in Billings. She was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, and stayed in the city for college, where she hosted a radio show that featured serialized dramas like the Shadow and Suspense. In her pathway to full employment, she interned at WNYC in New York City and KTOO in Juneau, Alaska. She then spent a few years on the island of Kodiak, Alaska, where she transitioned from reporter to news director before moving to Montana.
See stories by Kayla Desroches
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