A Summit County judge has overturned a local ban on a mining technique that uses cyanide to liberate gold from rock.
Judge David R. Lass ruled Wednesday that counties may not pass regulations regarding the cyanide heap- leach mining technique, which is used to process the lowest grades of ore.
That authority is reserved to the state Mined Land Reclamation Board, the judge said. The state permits cyanide heap-leach mining with certain restrictions.
Similar bans passed in Gilpin, Gunnison, Costilla and Conejos counties may also be vulnerable to a court challenge, said Stuart Sanderson, president of the Colorado Mining Association.
“Those resolutions are inconsistent with the rationale and very clear interpretation laid down by the court,” he said.
Environmental groups who support the ban said an appeal of Lass’ ruling is likely.
“When state law is inadequate to protect local water quality and the economy, it is absolutely necessary that counties have the legal capacity to step up to the plate to protect their residents,” said Colin Henderson, a San Luis Valley farmer and president of the Alliance for Responsible Mining.
Only one cyanide heap-leach mine, the Cripple Creek and Victor Company’s Cresson mine, is operating in Colorado. The technique involves sprinkling cyanide or other chemicals on piles of crushed ore.
Problems with heap-leach mining led to extensive water pollution below the Summitville and Battle Mountain mines near the San Luis Valley.
The Environmental Protection Agency says more than $200 million has been spent on the cleanup at Summitville, which is a federal Superfund site.
The Summit County ban was part of a package of changes to mining regulations passed in January 2004 in reaction to pollution at the Summitville and Battle Mountain sites. In 1998, voters in Montana approved a ban on open-pit cyanide gold mining because of damage done to the state’s rivers and groundwater. Last year, an industry-funded attempt to overturn the ban failed.
Sanderson said the mining association only challenged two provisions of the Summit County mining law that prohibited ore processing with cyanide or other chemical reagents.
“The industry respects county authority to address local impacts,” Sanderson said.
The state joined the lawsuit alongside the mining association.
Henderson said the Alliance for Responsible Mining will carry on the fight.
“We are absolutely committed to making sure this does not happen to other communities,” he said. “Our water is way too valuable to risk.”
Staff writer Theo Stein can be reached at 303-820-1657 or tstein@denverpost.com.
