Another gold rush would alter — or scar, critics say — S. Dakota

A gold rush brought settlers to South Dakota’s Black Hills about 150 years ago, chasing the dream of wealth and displacing Native Americans in the process.

- By Sarah Raza

EcoFlight FOR NOW, Coeur Mining's Wharf mine is the only active mine in the Black Hills.

Now, anew crop of miners driven by gold prices at more than $3,000 an ounce is seeking to return to the treasured landscape, promising an economic boost while raising fears of how modern gold extraction could forever change the region.

“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. “Our enjoyment of the Black Hills as a peaceful place, a sacred place, is disturbed.”

The Black Hills encompass more than 12 million acres, rising up from the Great Plains in southwest South Dakota and extending into Wyoming. The jagged peaks are smaller than those of the Rocky Mountains, but the lush pine-covered hills are sacred to the Lakota Sioux people and serve as a destination for millions of tourists who visit Mt. Rushmore and state parks.

One gold mine now operates in the Black Hills, but companies have proposals before state and federal agencies for another one, plus exploratory drilling sites that they hope will lead to full-fledged mines. That has prompted opposition by Native American tribes and environmentalists who argue the projects are close to sacred sites, will contaminate waterways and will permanently scar the landscape.

Gold extraction has changed dramatically in the decades since prospectors first began panning for gold in the Black Hills. The industry now typically relies on massive trucks and diggers that create deep, multi-tiered pits and use chemicals including cyanide to extract the gold.