Stibnite — An Open-Pit Gold Mine Hiding Behind an Antimony Facade
Arial view of Stibnite
The proposed Stibnite Gold Project near McCall has been pitched by Perpetua Resources as necessary for our national defense due to the antimony deposits at Stibnite (antimony is used in certain military applications including ammunition, night-vision goggles, and explosives). However, this PR campaign is designed to obscure what Stibnite really is—an irresponsible proposal for an environmentally damaging open-pit, cyanide vat leach gold mine in the headwaters of the South Fork of the Salmon River. A coalition of environmental organizations who are working to oppose the Stibnite Mine—including ICL, Advocates for the West, Idaho Rivers United, Save the South Fork Salmon, and Earthworks—have developed a pair of factsheets intended to remind people of the true nature of this project as an open-pit gold mine. We do not dispute that an antimony deposit exists at Stibnite, nor that antimony has certain important uses. Rather, we are highlighting a few key facts to help shed light on what the antimony component of this project really is:
Stibnite is first and foremost a gold mine, not an antimony mine (96% of the value of the project is from gold).
This mine will not solve antimony supply issues (it can only meet U.S. demand for 2 years).
The Stibnite Gold Project is designed to maximize gold production, not antimony (one of the three proposed open pits has no antimony whatsoever). The antimony that does exist is low grade and potentially unsuitable for military use.
U.S. taxpayers are ultimately subsidizing an open-pit gold mine ($80 million already in funding from the Department of Defense) that contains 18 billion dollars’ worth of gold in present value.
Under the Mining Law of 1872, Perpetua will pay no royalties back to taxpayers from mining billions of dollars’ worth of precious metals on federal public lands, which basically amounts to a massive subsidy.
There are at least three other domestic sources of military-grade antimony trisulfide that are supported by the U.S. military.
We encourage you to take a look at our updated factsheets to learn the truth about antimony and the Stibnite Gold Project:
If you are interested in seeing more statistics, we encourage you to take a look at the more detailed version of the factsheet below:
And if you want to dive in even further, check out this recent investigative piece by Bloomberg about the antimony angle of the Stibnite project.
At its core, Stibnite is a proposal for an environmentally destructive open-pit gold mine in the headwaters of the South Fork of the Salmon River. You can support our fight to protect this watershed and all it provides from Stibnite by becoming a member of ICL or making a special donation today.