Photo by: Atlanta Gold
TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Idaho-focused mine developer Atlanta Gold on Wednesday said it would switch its focus to its Neal property instead of working on the Atlanta project after heavy rain and severe flooding through portions of Elmore County cut off access to its flagship project.
Elmore County issued the declaration of emergency on August 12, followed by the Governor of Idaho Butch Otter declaring a state of emergency for Elmore County on August 27.
Access to the Atlanta project was severely constrained, making the movement of equipment in or out of the property impossible.
In the past few weeks, Atlanta's team had worked on public road access, improving the mine drainage, replacing pond liners, as well as replacing the filters on the passive water treatment facility. The company said it continued to maintain compliance with the drinking water standards as set by the US Environmental Protection Agency and the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality and other environmental maintenance.
"Damage to the Middle Fork of the Boise River [road] has forced us to move operations to the Neal property several months earlier than planned," Atlanta president and CEO Ernest Simmons said.
“While this move affects Atlanta Gold's planned operations for the short term, we are making the necessary adjustments to accommodate this temporary inconvenience. The move will be completed prior to the onset of winter which would cause closure of the only year-round access should repairs to the Middle Fork of the Boise river road not be complete,” he added.
The Middle Fork is the only winter road to Atlanta that has been maintained in the past, the company said.