After the ore is mined, it would be crushed to quarter-inch pieces, dropped in cement vats and rinsed with a cyanide solution to extract the gold.
Once leached, the gold would be collected and the spent ore sprinkled with an oxygenate, such as hydrogen peroxide, to reduce its toxicity. Then the ore would be buried in lined pits and backfilled with rock, topsoil and live trees. As part of the reclamation process, Valentine also plans to clean up the century-old mine shafts, drainage tunnels and trenches that dot the landscape.
For some, though, distrust runs deep. Valentine is not the first mining company to promise wealth and jobs while downplaying the risks of pollution, said Gary Heckenlaible, a community organizer for Action for the Environment, a Rapid City-based advocacy group that has opposed other large mines in the Northern Hills.
"There has never been a mining operation in the Hills that hasn't leaked," he said. "They all leak — it's just to what extent. ... And this is just the wrong place for a mine."
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