JoCo Group Plans Open Pit Mine; Objections Raised
Havilah Resources of Grants Pass wants to build a 126 acre open pit mine and excavate minerals as deep as 65 feet below the surface on a 210 acre property between Shanks and Grave Creeks east of I-5 in the Sunny Valley area.
Water would be pumped from the pit and used during mining operations, including dust abatement and for watering 50 foot buffers between the pit and the creeks.
Havilah Resources say the operation’s design would actually boost the creeks low summer flows. Special bio-filtration trenches use organic matter to filter the mine’s water and help create a ground water buffer between the mine and the creeks.
Conservation groups claim the mine would remove water from an already over appropriated Grave Creek and would harm wild salmon and steelhead while further reducing Grave Creek’s already limited water quality and flow.
