A federal judge said Monday the gold-mining company is liable for the continuing pollution of Montezuma Creek.
The arsenic comes from an old mining tunnel Atlanta Gold no longer owns. But U.S. District Chief Magistrate Judge Mikel Williams ruled Monday that the Canadian mining company could not abandon a water treatment plant it built in 2006 to remove arsenic from water flowing into a tributary of the Boise River.
He also said Atlanta Gold continues to violate the Clean Water Act and the company’s 2009 permit for the plant.
The judge said a remedy would be determined later. But the fine for violations could be up to $37,500 a day.
Since the company has never met the limits, that’s more than 1,700 days — or more than $60 million of potential fines.
The new water-treatment liability means new costs and complications for the mine, and raises questions about whether it can ever make money mining gold, even with the metal at near-record prices.
The company’s stock was selling for 6 cents Monday. Neither company officials nor their attorney returned calls.
The lawsuit was brought by the Idaho Conservation League and the Northwest Environmental Defense Center under the Clean Water Act. The Idaho group has said it would resume settlement talks now that Williams has ruled.
“Any settlement discussions need to include funding for long-term water treatment so that the headwaters of the Boise River aren’t continually threatened by toxic levels of arsenic and iron,” said John Robison, Public Lands Director of the Idaho Conservation League.
As late as November Atlanta Gold said it was moving forward with plans to build an open-pit mine for gold in the historic mining area in Elmore County. It has been exploring since 1994 under a Forest Service permit.
In 2011, it exercised its option on 33 nearby mining claims on 430 acres previously owned by Monarch Greenback on April 29, 2011. But the company said its claim to the mining tunnel — known as the 900 adit — expired, leaving it no responsibility to continue treating the water.
Atlanta Gold argued that since it had not caused the stream of pollution from the tunnel, it can’t be held responsible and that the treatment it has done has been strictly voluntary.
But both the Environmental Protection Agency and the Forest Service disagreed.
Atlanta Gold officials have been telling Idahoans and investors since 2006 they are only a year away from opening a multimillion-dollar gold mine that would bring prosperity to the isolated Boise National Forest town 60 miles northeast of Boise.
In that time, the price of gold has skyrocketed to record highs of more than $1,800 an ounce.
Rocky Barker: 377-6484
