When the rocks are crushed to a fine powder at a mill here where cyanide will separate the microscopic flecks of gold, it will become the first new gold mining operation in Washington state in more than a decade.
Opposition by environmental groups nearly scuttled the project, but the Crown Jewel Mine's startup reflects a new reality in the mining industry: Leave the lawyers behind and go talk to the people, miners and conservationists say.
In exchange for dropping legal challenges to the mine's state-issued permits, the gold company agreed to add more environmental protections and mitigation measures sought by the environmental groups.
Already, 100 miners are busy cutting tunnels and shafts into the 5,600 foot mountain southeast of Chesaw near the Canadian border. That's about half of the jobs Kinross Gold expects to be created for miners, truck drivers and millworkers before the estimated 1 million ounces of gold play out in about eight years.
The first ore is scheduled to be sent to a Kinross mill near Republic in August.
Crown Resources Corp., the exploration company that discovered gold on the mountain in 1988, scrapped its original plan to build an open pit mine in 2001 after fierce opposition by conservation groups. The mine even became an issue in the state's 2000 U.S. Senate race.
In 2006, Kinross, one of the world's biggest gold companies, acquired Crown Resources and the Buckhorn Mountain deposit and began seeking permits for an underground mine. It had already begun meeting with various stakeholders, including conservation groups and their lawyers.
"The discussions that led to this settlement occurred in the very recent past," said Lauren Roberts, Crown Resources vice president and manager of the Kinross Kettle River mining project.
In a sense, the Department of Ecology and other state regulatory agencies helped ensure that the mine would be built, despite objections of conservation groups. The agency issued nearly a dozen permits needed to build and operate the mine.
Dave Kliegman, the rural Okanogan County resident who is the driving force behind the Okanogan Highlands Alliance, called the agreement with Kinross an end run around federal and state regulatory agencies, particularly the Washington Department of Ecology, which issued water quality permits.
"All along, all we have been trying to ensure is that the public interest is protected," he said. "When we saw the agency wasn't doing that, we found a way to get that done; we took on the role of the government in protecting the public interest. We were able to get concessions from the company that the agencies should have done."
Ecology spokeswoman Joye Redfield-Wilder said the state's decade-old Mining and Milling Act provides many of the protections Kliegman's group was seeking, including formation of a citizen oversight committee.
But the agency felt it was on solid ground when it issued the permits, she said. Economics likely drove the mining company to offer additional concessions, she said.
"It may have something to do with the price of gold and maybe it was more valuable to the company to go ahead and reach that agreement," Redfield-Wilder said.
Roberts and Kliegman disagreed on how much economics drove the settlement.
Gold was selling for about $350 an ounce when the original open pit plan was put forward. Today, the precious metal sells for about $880 an ounce.
"The price of gold has got to play a role in this thing. But they were making money whether the price was $400, $500, $600 or $700," Kliegman said.
"They had to have looked at when we stopped the open pit mine and what it would cost them if they had to go back to the drawing board and come up with more mitigation," he said.
But Roberts said the settlement had more to do with the system.
"Both parties realized there was a more expeditious way to solve those issues," Roberts said. "When you are at the point that you have valid permits and appeals, it does tend to be lawyers talking with lawyers. At some point, it comes down to people talking to people."
The Echo Bay Lamefoot Mine, which opened in 1994, and the K2 mine that began operating near Republic in 1996, were the last underground gold mines in Washington state.
Roberts said Kinross wanted to adopt a "good neighbor agreement" similar to one Stillwater Mining Co. used to reduce opposition to its East Boulder Mine near Nye a decade ago.
The agreement between Stillwater and local citizens groups in August 1998 set out environmental and community protections beyond those required by law, avoiding years of legislative and legal fights other mines had faced.
"There is some recognition on everybody's part that it's not enough just to deal with the regulatory aspects and permits. Other stakeholders do matter," Roberts said. "It's quite costly to fight through appeals boards or courts. It's not a terribly productive use of the money."
Laura Skaer, executive director of the Northwest Mining Association which represents western mining interests, said mining companies are reaching out to communities before mines are built or expanded.
"The industry has learned it doesn't matter what legal rights you have," she said. "If you don't get that so-called 'social license' from people, you are going to have a hard time getting a mine built. When you get the locals behind you, it neutralizes environmental groups who may be opposed to mining."
A good price for gold also helps, she said.
"When you've got $950 gold, you'd like to get into production instead of going through the court system."
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