Last year’s federal Inflation Reduction Act is boosting interest in minerals contained in the Black Hills.
That’s raising curiosity and concern for area residents who attended a Black Hills Forum and Press Club event on Friday.
The IRA appropriates billions in investments to reduce emissions, shift the country’s reliance on China—all the while creating American jobs. That includes mining minerals domestically.
That’s putting the Black Hills in the crosshairs of increased mining interests.
Kwinn Neff, with the South Dakota Mineral Industries, said mining is the global conversation.
“People are starting to recognize the importance of minerals. You hear about them on the news now. On one hand it’s a very controversial issue in the Black Hills with all the development we have," Neff said. "But it’s also a good time to talk about mining because we need mining for the modern society.”
Neff said if a company moves forward, a new mine would still be a decade away.
The number of new mining claims in the Black Hills has increased sharply in recent years.
That has area residents like Rick Bell, also with Dakota Rural Action, concerned.
“We’re trying to just slow it down," Bell said. "Because we see the tearing up of the Black Hills by all these gold mines as being good for a few people.”
Bell said businesses and investors are able to take advantage of old mining laws, as well as loopholes in the Clean Water Act.
There’s only one active gold mine in the Black Hills—the Wharf Mine near Lead.
Two companies are drilling three-inch holes into the ground to discover what exists underground.
Dakota Gold is exploring for mineral deposits in the northern hills area as well.
Midwest Lithium says it plans start exploring for lithium near two abandoned mines close to Hill City and Keystone by mid-October.
An F3 Gold effort to drill exploratory holes near Pactola Reservoir is on hold due to a mineral withdrawal process.
Documents related to exploratory drilling are located on the South Dakota DANR website.
