"Sixty-eight years have passed since the Idaho-Maryland Mine operated in this small city in the Sierra Nevada foothills, about 50 miles east of Sacramento. Grass Valley residents want to keep it idle, a relic of the past"
Excerpts from a The Sacramento Bee article by Randy Diamond
Jun 10, 2023
Ben Mossman believes one of the largest amounts of unmined gold in the world lies deep under the ground in Grass Valley and wants to extract it. And that has made him, and his Rise Gold Corp., public enemy No. 1 in this town.
Opponents crowded two days of hearing with the Nevada County Planning Commission last month, overflowing outside listening to testimony near a tent, with a "no mine" banner, that had audio piped in.
Residents cite concerns that the 2,585-acre mine site would create failed wells, groundwater contamination, noise pollution and air pollution and increased truck traffic. Mossman said he and environmental studies have rebutted all those fears. He promises a mine that won’t damage the environment and will create an economic boom.
The planning staff had reviewed a more than 800-page environmental impact report [correction, the report was 12,000 pages] paid for by Rise Gold but done by an independent consultant.
But the planning staff found that reopening the gold mine was not consistent with the county’s overall general plan to maintain the rural characteristics of Nevada County.
Read the rest of the article at The Sacramento Bee.