U.S. Okays Canadian Company’s Massive Idaho Gold Mining Plan

Idaho's history is home to some of the biggest gold rush booms in the country. The gem state still houses some incredible abandoned mining towns from when groves of people came from all over to find new homes in Idaho, where there gold was plentiful. Now the Idaho gold rush is coming back to life. The U.S. Forest Service just said that the U.S. government okayed a Canadian mining company to do some drilling in a bigger.

The company says "the area contains about 825,000 ounces (23.4 million grams) of gold. The company in a summary of its plans says it would like to get the gold by digging an open-pit mine."

The company had mining projects going in Idaho over the past couple of years but a federal court ruling made them stop. The Idaho Conservation League and the Greater Yellowstone Coalition halted the project and filed court complaints concerned about the side effects and harm the massive mining project would have on nearby streams and wildlife.

Due to its proximity to Yellowstone National park there were concerns that the mining emissions could harm Yellowstone cutthroat trout. Other animals in Yellowstone could potentially be negatively effected as well.  The U.S. Forest Service said, "it had approved Excellon Idaho Gold’s Kilgore Gold Exploration Project in the Caribou-Targhee National Forest in Clark County. Excellon Idaho is a subsidiary of Toronto, Ontario-based Excellon Resources Inc."

The company had to create and show plans the the U.S. for a new drilling rout that would prove no harm will come to the Yellowstone cutthroat trout. The new plans just passed and the green light was given for the company to continue drilling for gold. The revised plans have the company pulling water for drilling from a different source. That was enough to satisfy the federal court. The latest plan approval includes 130 drill sites over 22 acres.

Many on The Idaho Conservation League and the Greater Yellowstone Coalition are still not happy with the result.