SC gold mine broke pollution law after pledging not to, DHEC says
A gold mine that has stressed its commitment to environmental protection has run into trouble with South Carolina regulators over illegal discharges of a toxic metal in Lancaster County between Columbia and Charlotte.
Regulators have slapped the Haile Gold Mine with an $11,200 fine after finding releases of thallium over legal limits. Thallium is a naturally occurring metal that in the past was used to make rat poison.
The state fine is the first levied against the gold-digging operation since it began producing gold more than three years ago, following efforts to reopen the historic mine. The new Haile mine is near the town of Kershaw. The mine, operated by OceanaGold, is the largest in the eastern United States, officials have said.
Haile’s violations drew concern from Department of Health and Environmental Control Board member Rick Lee of York County during Thursday’s agency board meeting. Lee said poor mining operations can have big environmental consequences.
“The people of Kershaw were concerned when the mine was first proposed there, and there were a lot of assurances from the mine owner with regard to their commitment to environmental protection,’’ Lee said.
“I’m worried about this long term.’’
The wastewater violation, initially reported by the company, put the mine in “significant non-compliance’’ with federal environmental policy, which prompted the fine. DHEC said the wastewater discharge issues, discovered in late 2019, have since been resolved and the $11,200 fine has been paid.
While the fine was the first against the Haile operation, it isn’t the first enforcement issue involving the Haile mine.
A DHEC official said Friday the department issued an enforcement notice last year over violations of air pollution control rules. The notice lists at least five alleged violations of federal law, as well as multiple state violations. One of the violations is a failure to “limit mercury emissions,’’ the April 12, 2019 notice says.
DHEC spokeswoman Laura Renwick said the matter is in negotiations, but Haile spokeswoman Heather Matthews said the issue has been resolved.
The department dropped an enforcement case last year against the Haile mine over water pollution discharges after determining the case was not valid, records show.
In the most recent case, the Haile mine — which discharges treated wastewater to a small creek — showed excessive releases of thallium in September, November and December 2019, Renwick said in an email. The agency said Haile also failed to provide certified reports on mercury, a hazardous metal long-associated with gold mines.
Thallium, a naturally occurring metal, can cause liver, kidney, heart and lung damage for people exposed in sufficient amounts, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It once was used as a rat poison, but has been banned from such use in the United States because of the risk of accidental exposure to people and wildlife, the CDC says.
Haile Gold Mine managers thought the company’s wastewater treatment process was adequate to meet legal discharge limits on thallium, only to learn that it was not, DHEC staff members told the agency board Thursday. The company has now increased the treatment, DHEC officials said. OceanaGold reported the thallium violations.
“The Haile Gold Mine team has always been committed to operating the mine in an environmentally responsible way,’’ the mine’s environmental manager, Scott McDaniel, said in an email. “This is the first correction action Haile has received from DHEC since reopening the mine in 2017.’’
McDaniel said Haile officials self-reported the violations because “we are always going to err on the side of caution and operate in a responsible manner. That includes calling regulators like DHEC when we even suspect there might be an issue.”
But after hearing concerns from Lee about the mine, department water pollution control director Randy Stewart said DHEC would take another look at the Haile operation.
“Based on this, we have discussed going back and doing an inspection,’’ he said.
The open-pit mining operation, which officials say has created some 600 jobs in and around the tiny Kershaw community, is on a 4,550-acre site. The company is currently seeking to expand the mine by about 900 acres.
Haile’s recent troubles follow past concerns about how the mining operation would affect the air, water and land of rural Lancaster County. The company’s operation could destroy or degrade more than 1,000 acres of wetlands, an unusually large amount to be impacted for a development project.
Gold mines have historically fouled groundwater and rivers across the country by using chemicals to extract the precious metal. The digging operations have been fraught with spills while also uncovering sulfide-rich rocks that then release acid into groundwater.
In 2014, The State newspaper chronicled environmental troubles gold mines have caused from Montana to South Carolina, where two closed mines have been declared federal Superfund cleanup sites because of pollution. At the time, pollution cleanups at the two abandoned mines had already cost taxpayers $27 million, the newspaper reported. One of the main concerns was acid drainage from the mines.
At the time, a Haile Gold Mine executive pledged to run a safe operation, telling The State “there’s not going to be any toxic legacy.’’
Bob Guild, a Sierra Club lawyer who took the mine to court seeking more money for an eventual cleanup, said the $11,200 fine is a paltry penalty for a company that stands to pull billions of dollars worth of gold from the ground in Lancaster County.
Despite that, DHEC’s first fine against the Haile Gold mine is a milestone that suggests future problems, he said.
“I consider it a warning signal to the community, that this facility has a toxic impact on the environment and they will pose a hazard for a long period of time,’’ Guild said.
The Haile mine operates 24 hours each day, every day of the week, the company said. It is at the site of old mining operations that had pulled easier-to-extract gold. The site was explored extensively about 10 years ago before mining began and Haile poured its first gold bar in 2017.
The mine stands to earn billions of dollars worth of gold that previous mining companies were unable to dig from the rocky soil of Lancaster County. Gold prices are hovering at nearly $2,000 per ounce, up substantially from several years ago.
This story has been updated
This story was originally published September 11, 2020 at 12:29 PM.
