US OKs gold mine exploratory drilling in eastern Idaho

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A Canadian mining company hoping to build an open-pit gold mine in Idaho west of Yellowstone National Park can resume exploratory drilling, the U.S. Forest Service said Friday.

The agency 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 project had been halted following federal court rulings in 2019 and 2020 concerning potential harm to Yellowstone cutthroat trout in a stream. The new drilling plan pulls water from a different stream officials say doesn’t contain Yellowstone cutthroat trout.

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.

Read more: https://www.idahopress.com/news/state/us-oks-gold-mine-exploratory-drilling-in-eastern-idaho/article_cee40b8b-1512-5a0c-a4e2-b21704baae90.html