Castle Mountain Mine is an active cyanide heap leach open pit gold mine and mill located in the Mojave Desert near California’s border with Nevada, about 40 miles northwest of Needles. Essentially surrounded by the Castle Mountains National Monument, Avi Kwa Ame National Monument, and the Mojave National Preserve, the mine is located on privately owned lands and lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
The Canadian corporation that owns the mine has proposed a very significant and concerning expansion of their operations. That proposal includes:
- Damaging an additional 1,854 acres (almost 3 square miles) of land that is currently Joshua tree woodlands and important habitat for numerous imperiled species
- Quadrupling mining operations (i.e., increasing mining by an additional 296 million tons per year)
- Dramatically increasing the use of groundwater from the current rate of 625 acre feet per year, to 2,250 acre feet per year, amounting to an additional 1,625 acre feet per year, which is approximately 530 million gallons more per year. (One acre foot is equal to 325,851 gallons).
- Constructing and operating an almost 32-mile underground water pipeline
- Constructing and operating an almost 17-mile overhead power line that will permanently impact views of spectacularly scenic desert landscapes
- Increasing the mine’s crushing rate by about 33 percent (from the current 17,123 tons per day to 52,055 tons per day)
- Expanding and deepening open pits to more than 400 feet below the water table
- Creating an open-pit lake that would remain a permanent land feature
- Extending the mine’s life by approximately 30 years
This proposal would also increase noise, air, and light pollution in an area that is frequented by visitors who enjoy horseback riding, stargazing and amateur astronomy, and hunting.
Photo: Laurel Williams
