ICL Protects Idaho Waters
How ICL works to protect ICL's waters.
Mining—A Hot Topic
- A proposed mining plan would put the river in a pipe. John Robison photo.
The East Fork of the South Fork of the Salmon River, east of McCall, supports one of Idaho's most important salmon and steelhead runs. Midas Gold, a Canadian mining company, is seeking to construct an open pit gold mine underneath the river. This would mean dewatering over a mile of the river and routing it through a pipe during mining operations. The open pit would eventually be filled with mine waste and the river would be placed in an engineered channel. To store the mine waste, a 500' high dam would be constructed on a major tributary and the valley upstream would be filled with mine tailings.
Mining is the number one toxic polluter in the U.S. and we are concerned that pollution from the mine could wipe out local fish and also contaminate the South Fork and Main Salmon Rivers.
ICL is taking the lead on protecting this stretch of the Salmon River from the proposed mine plan. We already successfully appealed a U.S. Forest Service decision authorizing exploratory drilling because of groundwater concerns and forced the company to rethink operations.
More Ways ICL Protects Water
We are working hard to protect Idaho waters throughout the state.
