Post by
AKRAM123 on Apr 15, 2022 9:35pm
Local News Article
Appeared in one of our local papers yesterday.
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Billions of dollars at stake as huge gold mine moves ahead with South Carolina expansion
The historic Haile Gold Mine, in Lancaster County, SC, is now owned by OceanaGold, a global gold mining company. The company took the media on a tour of its facilities, Thursday, April 27, 2017. Buried deep in the Lancaster County dirt are billions of dollars in gold that a mining company has been furiously digging for during the past six years. OceanaGold’s effort has drawn praise locally for the hundreds of jobs it created, but the company also has sparked criticism over its failure to follow environmental laws, as well as the massive impact the mine has had on the landscape.
Now, however, the company has struck a deal with environmentalists that could make it easier for OceanaGold to expand from about 4,500 acres to nearly 5,400 acres. Environmental groups agreed this month not to oppose Haile’s proposed expansion after the company pledged to put more cash in the bank to pay for pollution cleanups when the mine closes. The deal requires the Haile Gold Mine’s owners to sock away an extra $10 million for cleanups. The deal could ultimately mean the cash trust fund would, with interest, grow to several hundred million dollars over time, say conservationists who agreed to the deal.
In return, environmental groups gave up their right to fight state and federal environmental permits the gold mine is seeking to expand operations in rural Lancaster County. The agreement, while requiring Haile to put up more cleanup money, could lead to billions of dollars more in extra revenue for OceanaGold, the international mining corporation from Australia. The company stands to rake in about $250 million annually from the expansion, if environmental permits are issued — revenue that adds to the projected $2 billion to $4 billion the mine already stood to make from the South Carolina gold operation.
Chris DeScherer, an attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center, said he’s satisfied with the agreement his organization brokered with OceanaGold. Opposing the permits in court could have been messier and more time-consuming than signing an agreement this month with OceanaGold, he said. Increasing cash for a cleanup ensures money will be available to fix environmental problems at the site long after the mine has been shuttered, he said. The mine is near the town of Kershaw, about halfway between Columbia and Charlotte. “We think we are getting a better result than had we gone to court and fought this,’’ DeScherer said. ”To the mine’s credit, they negotiated in good faith, they understood our concerns and I think we have put together a settlement agreement that will protect taxpayers, the environment’’ and the nearby Lynches River watershed.
Haile praised the agreement in a statement released Thursday afternoon. “We are pleased to have worked with the conservation community to arrive at an agreement that provides additional financial assurance to the state of South Carolina, along with additional benefit to our communities in protecting ecologically sensitive land, as well as long term environmental assurances post mining,’’ the statement said, noting that government agencies that must issue permits “have a job to do and we appreciate the depth of review of this project.’’ The Haile Gold Mine is near Kershaw in Lancaster County.