GENERAL49884

• Permit No: M1988112
• IBM Index Class Name: General Documents
• Doc Date: 3/22/1989
• Doc Name: NEWSPAPER CLIPPING GOLD MINE PLANS RILE COSTILLA RESIDENTS
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

III IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
°~'~
a OmeS and in pab~C Chin W ~ wn Ai ~rrewa "'"".
Pu S T 3 ->1~9
3 ~~~~t

~olc~m~ne plans rile +Costilla resi~en~s
~y Thomas Graf
Deliver Post Environment Writer
-Costilla County, one of the poor-
est sections of Colorado, literally
sits atop a gold mine. But critics of
a plan to remove the gold say Tex-
as }}vvouki reap the profits and Colo-
~r:~do avould get stuck with' poison-
ous cyanide.
Battle Mountain Resources of
Houston wants Lo dig two open-pit
mines in the foothills of the Sangre
~de.Cristo Mountains, three miles
•AOl'theast of San Luis. The compa-
ng plans to remove ore and then
;drip cyanide over the crushed rock
to leach out the gold.
"•'The resulting cyanide-laden
;leach heap would cover 95 acres.
.. The State Mined Land Reclama-
~6ard has scheduled a hearing
on a permit for the project today
at 1 p.m. in room 215 at 1313 Sher-
man $t., Denver. The board may
reader its decision on the permit at
today's meeting.
Battle Mountain estimates it can
remove 390,1100 ounces of gold dur-
ing the seven- to 10-year life of the
mine, where 10 to 20 employees
would work.
But San Juan-area opponents of
the mining plan say very little of
the gold would go toward curing
the area o[ its economic malaise.
Many residents fear the mine
would leave them nothing but a cy-
anide-laced eyesore threatening
their water supplies.
"The possibility of cyanide in
our water, the noise and air pollu-
tion generated >iy the mining activ-
. `+~YW}j
hies and~the scgrring of the Sangre'
de Cristo tso o~~Ls nun our ef-
forts to prom a stn in tiaa
Luis," said Joe G os, presllMrR'
o[ the Costilla C ty Committb!
for Envirorial Soundness,
which is fight' a oject.
The mine boar s sta~has recom-
mended approval of the permit.
They say the mine and Battle
Mountain's r lamation pMas
meet a]] tech cal requirements
and do not po an environmestat
hazard.
.._
I.