Rise Gold (CSE: RISE) announced that the technical reports submitted to the Nevada County to obtain a “use permit” concluded that there are no significant environmental impacts linked to the reopening of the historic past-producing Idaho-Maryland gold mine in California.
In a press release, Rise explained that such conclusions were reached after mitigation measures were incorporated into the documentation, which was prepared over a nine-month period at a cost of $1 million.
Since that necessary step has been completed, the miner said it will soon start putting together a Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR), which will later be assessed by a third-party independent consultant hired by the county.
The Idaho-Maryland mine was the second largest lode gold producer in the U.S. before being forced to close under War Production Board Order L-208 during World War II
“The DEIR will provide a description of existing site conditions, project operations, and how the project may impact the existing conditions,” the media brief states. “Accordingly, the final judgement of the significance of impacts and mitigation measures are determined by the County in consultation with its independent consultant. However, based on the results of the technical studies, the company believes the DEIR will arrive at a similar conclusion with no significant environmental impacts after mitigation is incorporated.”
The Idaho-Maryland mine is a past-producing gold mine that produced 2,414,000 ounces of gold at an average mill head grade of 17 gpt gold from 1866-1955.
Recently, Rise completed 20,600 metres of exploration core drilling and encountered numerous high-grade gold intercepts, both near the existing mine workings and to depths significantly below historic mining areas. Thus, it is now proposing a use permit application for underground mining to recommence at an average throughput of 1,000 tonnes per day.