A gold crowd, settled in the Black Hills of South Dakota, about 150 years ago, chased the dream of wealth and displaced the original Americans in this process.
Now, a new crop of miners Gold prices An ounce of more than $ 3,000 is trying to return to the valuable scenario, promises an economic promotion, while increasing the possibility of how modern gold clearance can always change the region.
“These effects can be long -term and can create it so that tourism and external entertainment are negatively affected by Black Hills Clean Water Alliance Executive Director Lilias Jording. “Our enjoyment of Black Hills as a peaceful place, a holy place, is disturbed.”
Black Hills are included in 1.2 million acres, which rise above the Great Plains in the South -West South Dakota and are spread over Vyoming. Reptred peaks are smaller than rocky mountains, but green pine covered hills Lacota Siox are sacred for people and serve as a destination for millions of tourists who visit Mount Rashmore and State Parks.
Dramatic landscape changes come with modern mining
A gold mine now operates in the Black Hills, but companies have proposes for one and one in front of state and federal agencies, as well as searching sites that they hope that they will give birth to full mines. This has inspired the opposition by the original American tribes and environmentalists, who argue that the projects are close to the holy sites, contaminating the waterways and scared the landscape permanently.
Gold withdrawals have changed dramatically in decades as the prospectors first started paning to sleep in Black Hills. The industry now usually depends on large -scale trucks and excavators who manufacture deep, multi -layered pits to remove gold and use chemicals such as cyanide.
Echophylite / AP 
Land can never return to its original state. Once in the Western Hemisphere, the largest and deep gold mine, homestake mines, now sits in the lead, South Dakota, and is used for scientific research.
Black Hills Gold Mining has increased with the price of metal. When the Homestake mine closed in 2002, the gold was sold in about $ 300 an ounce. Now it goes up to 10 times.
Joseph Cavatoni, senior market strategist at the World Gold Council, credits the price spike for global economic uncertainty.
“Gold is a stable property,” he said. “It actually performs well in the time of inflation, and keeps its value in the time of recession. That is why sleeping as a property in investment.”
President Donald Trump also promoted the industry by issuing an executive order in March to increase American mineral production, calling for early permissions and reviews.
Colin Patterson, Professor Emeritus of Geological Engineering at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, notes that Black Hills is engaged in Gold Rock. To remove it, the rock is crushed and then chemicals such as cyanide are used to dissolve and remove the mineral.
Mining brings revenue, but renews the battle of Black Hills
The Coeur mining runs a single active mine in the Black Hills, but the company Dakota Gold plans an open pit mine to start operations in 2029. The company is also targeting the area near the old homestake site to construct an underground mine, where workers will enter the shaft of hundreds or even thousands of feet.
According to data provided by Dakota Gold, he believes that the net current value for deposits can range from $ 1.6 billion to $ 2.1 billion, CBS affiliate Kello-TV reported Last month.
Jack Henris, chairman and chief operational officer of Dakota Gold, estimated that the open pit mine would produce up to 250 jobs and as a result the company would pay the state up to $ 400 million in taxes on mines of mine. Henris stated that Dakota Gold would conduct an environmental study and survey of soil and vegetation to ensure safe operations.
“Most people who work here are from the region and just like to live here,” he said. “So we are a big part of the hills and we love them like other people.”
To a large extent, gold mining helped to create a modern Black Hills region.
The US government signed a treaty in 1868, which recognized the rights of the SOX Nation for the Black Hills, but the government seized the land after searching for gold and allowed the settlers in the region. The US Supreme Court later ruled that SIOX was entitled to compensation, but he has not accepted anyone and maintained its claim on the land.
Tribes have opposed mining to a large extent in Black Hills.
“There is a central truth about mining in the Black Hills that it was never the most mineral rich place,” said Taylor Gujhemer, the indigenous advocacy group NDN collectable and an Oglala Sox, a local organizer with one of Lakota. “It is also not the actual mineral content of the Black Hills that are very attractive for mining companies. It is the permissible nature of the officers who oversee mining.”
Some proposed projects, such as Dakota Gold mines, are on private land and are only subject to state regulations, not American forest service regulations necessary for publicly projects.
Environmentalists have focused on their opposition to the possibility of leaks of chemicals. They note that the Koir’s ghat mine has about 200 spills and the former homestake mine was closed as it contaminated a nearby creek.
Jasmine McCalli, the environment manager of the Coeur, said in a statement that each spill was “fully investigated, reduced, and has been kept to stop corrective action again.” He said that the company is always improving its processes.
Lakota People’s Law Project And this Black Hills Clean Water Alliance Kelo-TV said that the area has also raised voice against the proposed drilling and mining for gold in the area.
Jording by Black Hills Clean Water Alliance said that he was concerned about the number of projects in works.
“It is really important that people understand the exponential growth in mining activity that is happening in the Black Hills in the last five years,” Jarding said. “Currently Black Hills have active mining claims on 271,000 acres. It is 20% of the entire Black Hills that is going to be subject to mining.”
