Midas Gold's own Environmental report controversial

SMM12, March 16: following the intervention of the Trump administration, the National Forest Service allowed Midas Gold to prepare an environmental report for its open-pit gold mine in Idaho, a state in the northwestern United States.

Located in a historic mining area in central Idaho, Midas Gold has a world-class antimony gold project, (Stibnite Gold Project), which estimates that the project has more than 600000 ounces of gold and more than 180 million pounds of antimony.

The report, also known as biological assessment, is usually written by the Forest Service or an independent third party to study the potential effects of opencast mining on salmon, rainbow trout and trout covered by the Endangered species Protection Act. If the evaluation results are unfavorable, it is very likely that the Stibnite Gold project will sink.

According to an internal forest services document in February 2018, the agency decided to reject Midas Gold's request to participate in the assessment report as a non-federal representative because the large-scale project could damage protected fish. But by October 2018, Midas Gold was not only a participant, but also took over the process and prepared an environmental report.

"I don't think it's particularly appropriate for a mining company to analyze its own projects," says Bonnie Gestring of Earthworks.

Earthworks is a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting communities and the environment from the adverse effects of mineral and energy development while promoting sustainable solutions.

However, Mckinsey Lyon, vice president of foreign affairs at, Midas Gold, said it was normal for the company to write biological assessments for its projects, and the company held monthly meetings with federal agencies, state agencies and tribes.