Gold Mine proposed off Black's Creek Road

If there is no hang-up in getting the permits approved, a small open pit gold mine is expected to begin operations this spring in Elmore County near Three Points Mountain toward the end of Black's Creek Road.

A California-based company, Desert Mineral Mining, LLC, is seeking approval from the state to utilize a new technique for small-scale operations that will process about 100 tons of rock a day to extract quartz-gold ore from the "Centennial Mine" site.

The area was at one time the site of an extensive open-pit mining area that closed in the mid-20th century. But the high price of gold and new technologies are now making it potentially profitable to reopen the site.

According to Dan Terzo, owner of Desert Mineral Mining, operations could run anywhere from two to five years. "After that, you'd probably have to go to shaft mining, and we don't want to do that," he said.

Terzo said that the operation would involve a new type of milling machine that would be environmentally friendly, creating an organic fertilizer "super soil" by-product. In fact, he said, he may continue operations to produce the "super soil" on the site long after the mining operations are completed.

He said the mine would demonstrate the "proof of concept" of the new 10'x32' machine, which would be enclosed in a concrete building of only 2,400 square feet. That building would not only contain the ore-extraction machine, but all the other equipment for the operation. Elmore County would need to issue a building permit, but otherwise the operation meets both local and state guidelines.

The ore-extraction (milling) machine would utilize a cyanide leaching system commonly used to extract gold from ore, but according to the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, the cyanide would be constantly recycled, with little or no cyanide winding up in the tailings.

A special double-lined pit would be used to contain the tailings, in order to prevent exposure of any residue into the environment.

"I also own an environmental company, so I'm very concerned about things like that," said Terzo.

The private property where the mine is located was "worked pretty extensively 40 or 50 years ago," and has been "pretty well torn up," to begin with, Terzo said.

The pit on the 10-acre site in which the mining operations will be contained will be covered and reseeded at the end of operations, as will the tailings pit, which is expected to ultimately contain a total of about 120,000 cubic yards of tailings.

"When it's all over, we'll close the pit and grow something there," Terzo said.

Details about the operation's environmental protections and state requirements can be obtained from the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality.

The state will require special liners (top and bottom for the tailings pit) and leak detection and groundwater monitoring equipment. The permit does not allow any discharges to surface or groundwater.

The permit also requires that when the operation is closed all equipment and buildings be decontaminated, dismantled and hauled off the site.

"The state intends for the operation to meet the conditions of the Surface Mining Act, which requires the land be restored to a beneficial future use, such as grazing," said Bruce Schuld, who is handling the permit for DEQ.

The operation, Schuld said, is "50 to 100 times smaller" than the Atlanta Gold operation, which also is in the permitting stage, and expects to reopen the extensive mining areas in Atlanta within the next year or two.

Terzo said the mine would be hiring about 20-30 local employees during peak mining operations.

Terzo added that anyone who has any questions about the mine, or who would like more information, could call him at 714-403-7858.

Except during initial stages of construction of the building, the mine should add very little to the light traffic on Black's Creek Road.

Idaho, known for its many ore-bearing areas, is seeing a resurgence in mining operations now that gold prices have been consistently at or above the $400 per ounce mark.

Schuld said that the Centennial Mine proposal is the 30th permit in the state for commercial mining operations, "and I expect to see a lot more in the future. That will probably strain our current resources to handle" all the permits he expects to see.

Besides commercial mining, there has always been a significant "recreational" mining industry in Idaho, with "hobby miners" working small shaft or dredge operations. "I don' know why they call it 'recreational,' " Schuld said, "it's a lot of hard, sweaty work. But the guys who do it can usually eke out a living."

Elmore County at one time was one of the great gold-producing regions in the nation, but most of the mines played out in the early 20th century and the last mines were closed in the 1950s.

Recent high gold prices and new technologies that allow extraction of smaller per-ton quantities of gold, however, have reinvigorated interest in reopening some of the old gold fields in the region, most notably in Atlanta.