A Nevada mine that had been sending thousands of pounds of mercury into Idaho has suddenly shutdown leaving hundreds of workers without jobs and an uncertain future.
Yukon-Nevada Gold Corp. closed its gold mine earlier this month then shut down its milling operations at the Jerritt Canyon Mine, just south of the Idaho border about 50 miles north of Elko. It reported a net loss Thursday of $14.6 million for the six months ending June 30 due to a shutdown last March by Nevada regulators after a year-long investigation into the company's mercury emissions reports.
The company laid off 240 underground miners Aug. 8 and this week laid off all remaining workers at the mill because of a malfunction, company officials said in a press release.
"A professional engineering firm has been contracted to provide essential on-site activities including ongoing environmental monitoring," the company said.
The investigation started after Justin Hayes, program director for the Idaho Conservation League urged the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to look into whether the mine had higher mercury emissions than the company had reported. EPA put pressure on Nevada officials to look in Jerritt Canyon's claims it had cut mercury emissions by 97 percent between 1998 and 2005.
Tests conducted as part of Nevada's mandatory mercury control program, instituted in 2006 in part due to pressure from the ICL and Idaho environmental officials, showed emissions near the 1998 levels.
At 9,300 pounds per year, the mine was emitting more than 90 times the annual emissions of a coal-fired power plant like the one rejected by Idaho officials near Jerome in 2006.
Hayes said Friday the company's financial woes didn't have to happen. Other mining companies in Nevada like Kinross, Barrick Gold and Newmont Mining Co. installed pollution control equipment both before the state required and after.
Part of their demise was their failure to address reality when it was apparent to everyone else, Hayes said.
When mercury falls into water, it accumulates in fish. Children of women exposed to high levels of mercury from tainted fish during pregnancy can suffer brain damage and learning disabilities.
Rivers and lakes across southern Idaho have reported high levels of mercury, especially Salmon Falls Creek Reservoir on the Nevada border.
Read more on how Hayes and the Idaho Conservation League got Nevada to investigate the mine in Rocky Barker's blog: Letters from the West and in Saturday's Idaho Statesman.