Barrick sees win-win strategy in Golden Sunlight mine closure project

Barrick Gold (TSX: ABX; NYSE: GOLD) is ready to go ahead with its mine closure project for the Golden Sunlight property in Jefferson County, Mont., following a meeting between CEO Mark Bristow and Montana Governor Greg Gianforte. According to Barrick, the project involves reprocessing tailings to remove and concentrate sulphur or iron pyrite that will then be sold to and used in gold production by Nevada Gold Mines. In detail, the remaining benign material will be backfilled into the Mineral Hill pit. Besides being useful, the removal of concentrated sulphur eliminates a source of potential groundwater contamination. In a media statement, the Toronto-based company said that public environmental scoping comments on the project closed on March 12, 2021, and the Montana Department of Environmental Quality is currently completing its environmental review. Barrick owns both Nevada Gold Mines and Golden Sunlight. The latter produced more than 3 million oz. of gold over nearly 40 years of operation and shut down in 2019 when gold production was no longer economically viable. “[With the closure project] everyone wins: the local community gets jobs and cleaner water; the state of Montana gets taxes, and Barrick continues to get some revenue from an operation previously judged to be terminal. We look forward to completing the permitting process this fall and shipping the first concentrates as early as the end of this year,” Bristow said at the meeting. This story first appeared on www.MINING.com.