Last updated on 2020-07-13
Ah, the Deadwood Standard Project! I haven’t heard about that Spearfish Canyon mining project for some time.
Deadwood Standard is in the news for agreeing to pay an $11,000 fine for violating its permit:
The South Dakota Department of Environment & Natural Resources announced Thursday that it has reached a settlement agreement with VMC LLC and Don Valentine.
VMC received its exploration permit, which is officially known as an exploration notice of intent, in 2012 to drill in an area west of Lead near the rim of Spearfish Canyon. Backers called the effort the Deadwood Standard Project.
…The permit covered property owned by Valentine located 7 miles west of Lead. The permit allowed for the drilling of up to 100 holes with a maximum depth of 100 vertical feet.
In September 2017, DENR inspectors discovered that several holes had been drilled on property owned by Valentine in excess of the 100-foot depth limit, including one 800-foot hole.
In another violation of the permit, the drillers failed to provide the Department of Game, Fish & Parks with a map showing the location of all historic open mine workings, so that the mine workings could be assessed for use by bats. In addition, GF&P was not notified that exploration activity, including drilling, within 100 feet of a historical mine shaft was being conducted [Seth Tupper, “SD Fines Gold Exploration Company for Violations,” Rapid City Journal, 2018.03.15].
DENR says Valentine/VMC LLC did no damage and plugged their illegal holes, but suppose they hadn’t? Black Hills don’t grow on trees, you know. We need to be more diligent in protecting our natural treasures from companies and profiteers who don’t keep their promises.
In the early 1980s there was an interim legislative committee that studied SD mining laws and suggested updating the laws. There was a controversy over uranium exploration and mining at that time, and gold exploration was just beginning. I remember being at those meetings. There was a sort of compromise developed: (1) slightly tougher requirements on hardrock and uranium mining, (2) no in-situ mining would be allowed, (3) permits would be required for uranium exploration, (4) no permits would be required for non-uranium exploration, (5) the mining industry wanted few “rules,” just statutes to govern mining. This was about the time Janklow pushed through an increase the gold severance tax, which hit Homestake pretty hard for a few years until it was changed. It was also around this time that Janklow consolidated several boards to create the Board of MInerals and Environment to oversee mine permitting and other duties.
Here’s the problem. Most of that compromise has been breached, so why are these exploration permits allowed to happen without adequate regulation, opportunity for hearings, etc? When exploration is done on Forest Service lands, there is public notice, comment, and opportunity for hearings, yet non-public lands nearby receive completely inadequate scrutiny.
That “compromise” along with low uranium prices
That 800 foot hole was a mistake. They meant to drill only 100 feet as allowed.
Well, sure, it was a mistake, a big mistake They missed it by 8 times. What happened? Did the driller fall asleep? Did they intersect some old adits? Did they provide the reason to DENR? They also overdrilled several other holes. The EXNI was approved in 2012. Did this happen this year, or was it in some previous year?
When companies break the rules of their permit, they should lose their opportunity to mine for, oh, 5-10 years. They only get it back when they pay all fines and rectify all damage. Plus, any $ made from illegal actions must be forfeited to the state. How’s that sound? Effective?
More corruption in SD:
Seth Tupper, “Regulators entrust pollution study at Superfund site to company searching for gold,” Rapid City Journal, 2018.03.16.
well, just imagine they find 800′ deep evidence of commercial grade ore in that one hole, likely representative of a larger area. Free exploration data. No risk of the original permit being more heavily contested perhaps, and NOW they know.