Terrifying new plans could see mining companies tear apart one of America’s most sacred landscapes in pursuit of gold now worth 10 times more than it was just 20 years ago.
The majestic Black Hills of South Dakota – a 1.2 million-acre wilderness paradise that is home to Mount Rushmore and holds deep spiritual significance for Native American tribes – are under siege from a new generation of gold miners.
With gold prices soaring to an eye-watering $3,000 per ounce – compared to just $300 when the area’s last big mine closed in 2002 – profit-seeking firms are circling like vultures over the pine-covered peaks that the Lakota Sioux consider sacred.
At the center of the storm is CEO Robert Quartermain’s company Dakota Gold, which has amassed a market value of nearly $500 million on plans to use deadly chemicals like cyanide to extract gold despite a devastating cost to the environment.
Quartermain’s plans have sparked outrage among environmentalists and Native American leaders, who warn that his modern mining techniques could permanently scar the pristine and beloved landscape forever.
‘These impacts can be long term and make it so that tourism and outdoor recreation is negatively impacted,’ said Lilias Jarding, executive director of the Black Hills Clean Water Alliance, an anti-mining group.
‘Our enjoyment of the Black Hills as a peaceful place, a sacred place, is disturbed.’
Unlike the romantic image of prospectors panning for gold 150 years ago, today’s mining operations are industrial monsters that use massive trucks and earth-moving equipment to create enormous, multi-tiered pits that cannot be restored to their natural state.
America’s new gold rush could devastate South Dakota’s Black Hills, a wilderness paradise that’s home to Mount Rushmore (pictured)
An abandoned shaft is pictured in the mines of South Dakota
Dakota Gold is raising cash to launch its Richmond Hill Oxide Heap Leach Gold Project
The haunting remains of the former Homestake mine – once the largest and deepest gold mine in the Western Hemisphere – now sits as a barren wasteland in Lead, South Dakota, serving as a chilling reminder of what is to come.
Pictured: Veteran Canadian miner Robert Quartermain
But Dakota Gold’s executives have dismissed these concerns and promise massive economic benefits for local communities.
Jack Henris, president and chief operating officer, says his company’s proposed open pit mine will create some 250 jobs and pump a staggering $400 million into state tax coffers over the project’s lifetime.
‘Most of the people that work here are from this area and just love to live here,’ Henris said.
‘So we’re a big part of the Hills, and we love them just as much as other folks.’
The gold rush fever in South Dakota has been turbocharged by Donald Trump’s executive order in March calling for expedited permitting and reviews to boost American mineral production.
Market experts say the explosive price increase – gold has risen 1,000 percent since 2002 – is being driven by global economic uncertainty, with investors fleeing to the precious metal as a safe haven.
‘Gold tends to be a stable asset that actually performs well in inflationary times, and holds its value in recessionary times,’ Joseph Cavatoni of the World Gold Council said.
For Native American tribes, the mining proposals represent a painful reminder of historical injustices that continue to this day.
The US government signed a treaty in 1868 recognizing the Sioux Nation’s rights to the Black Hills, but broke that promise and seized the land after gold was discovered, allowing settlers to flood into the region.
Though the Supreme Court later ruled the Sioux were entitled to compensation, tribal leaders have refused any payment and maintain their rightful claim to the land.
‘It’s not even the actual mineral content of the Black Hills that is so attractive to mining companies,’ said Taylor Gunhammer, an Oglala Sioux organizer with NDN Collective, an indigenous rights group.
‘It’s the permissive nature of the officials who oversee mining.’
Deadwood is a picturesque old mining town on the edge of the forest in South Dakota
The rising value of gold makes costly and intensive cyanide leaching more viable
Some members of the native Sioux community say mining permits are doled out far too easily
Cyanide leaching for gold is so risky that it has been banned in some places
The Black Hills have a long history of gold mining, as this 1889 photo of the Great Homestake Mines and Mills shows
The hills are a beloved home to bison, black bears, mountain lions, elk and prairie dogs
Environmentalists are sounding the alarm about dangerous chemical contamination that could poison waterways for generations.
Cyanide leaching is a common gold extraction method, but poses significant environmental and health risks due to the toxicity of the chemical.
Accidental spills can contaminate water sources, harming aquatic life and polluting drinking water supplies.
Exposure to even a small amount of cyanide can kill humans and animals.
The practice is so risky that it has been banned in some places.
Critics point to the shocking track record of Coeur Mining’s current Wharf mine, which has suffered nearly 200 spills, and the legacy pollution from the old Homestake mine that contaminated a nearby creek so badly it had to be shut down.
Company officials insist each spill was ‘thoroughly investigated’ and say they are constantly improving safety measures, but critics remain deeply skeptical.
The stakes couldn’t be higher: Mining claims now cover a staggering 271,000 acres across the Black Hills – that’s a fifth of the entire region that could potentially be strip-mined and destroyed forever.
Gold mining takes place just 65 miles northwest of Mount Rushmore, the massive rock-hewn sculpture of US presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.
The region’s prairies, craggy mountains, verdant forests, and cave systems are popular among outdoor enthusiasts, and are a home to bison, black bears, mountain lions, elk and prairie dogs.
As the battle lines are drawn between corporate profits and environmental protection, the fate of one of America’s most treasured landscapes hangs in the balance.