Groups seek to stop gold mine exploratory drilling in Idaho

By KEITH RIDLER

Associated Press

BOISE — Environmental groups are renewing efforts to stop exploratory drilling by a Canadian mining company hoping to build a gold mine in Idaho west of Yellowstone National Park.

The Idaho Conservation League and Greater Yellowstone Coalition, in documents filed in federal court last month against the U.S. Forest Service, ask that the case involving Excellon Idaho Gold’s Kilgore Gold Exploration Project in the Caribou-Targhee National Forest in Clark County be reopened.

Excellon Idaho Gold is a subsidiary of Toronto, Ontario-based Excellon Resources Inc.

The company says the area contains at least 825,000 ounces (23.4 million grams) of gold near the surface, and potentially more deeper.

The project was halted following federal court rulings in 2019 and 2020 concerning potential harm to Yellowstone cutthroat trout.

The Forest Service late last year approved a new plan put forward by the company involving road building and 130 drill stations.

The environmental groups in court documents said the groups should be allowed to file a proposed supplemental complaint because the Forest Service violated various environmental laws in approving the new plan.

The groups contend that the plan submitted by the mining company and the Forest Service's approval are essentially repeats of what the court previously rejected.