Roarick Mine is on BLM land and would use “old-school” sluice system
A placer gold mine near Holland could be up and running as early as this fall. On December 30, a group of about 35 Illinois Valley residents met with Bureau of Land Management representatives at the Roarick Mine project site to discuss the specifics.
Cindy Palacios, who lives nearby the mine site, which covers 22 acres of BLM land, called for the public tour, and BLM officials agreed to join. Also present was the mining claim owner, Larry Trefethen of Central Point. Trefethen, along with BLM geologists Kirby Bean and Andrea Bowen, answered locals’ questions and concerns about the potential impacts that the mining would have. After a couple hours, it seemed that at least some worries had been assuaged.
“Twenty-two acres mined flat sounded scary,” Palacios said. “Now, after talking, I’m not concerned about the noise, silt, and dust issues. They seem like no big deal.”
Although the claim covers 22 acres, the actual mined area would only cover about 5 acres, Bean said. The techniques used would not include any chemical separation techniques, instead relying on water and gravity to separate heavy minerals such as gold.
“This is the old-school, traditional way,” Bean said.
Heavy machinery and modern technology would still be involved, though. Water would be pumped from an existing water storage pond above the mining site to be mixed with excavated sediment, which would then be sent through a grizzly feeder, a trommel screen, and finally a sluice box, to filter out successively smaller rocks. The muddy water would be put in a settling pond, where the finest particles would settle to the bottom, and the water would be re-used for processing.
The mine would only operate during the wet season, probably only for a few months a year, Trefethen said: after enough rain falls and before temperatures drop too low.
The mining area sits in an area of rocky serpentine soil that has been mined multiple times over the decades. The nearest waterway, Democrat Creek, is just over a small ridge from Althouse Creek, which, along with Josephine Creek and the Waldo area, was one of the first places gold was discovered in the Illinois Valley. The Althouse Creek area has been mined extensively starting in the 1850s.
Trefethen’s family’s mining claim goes back three generations. He said he inherited the claim from his uncles when he was 18, and he worked with his father on the claim as a heavy equipment operator.
Referring to the response from community members about the project, he said, “I think the positives are more than the negatives, but I think the negatives will be the loudest.”
One of the primary concerns raised by residents was the possibility of sediment washing into Democrat Gulch, particularly during a rainstorm. The Roarick Mine plan requires the construction of berms or other remediation to prevent that.
Bean said that BLM would inspect the operation “as often as necessary,” but did not offer specifics on how often that would be. But, he said that any discharge of sediment into Democrat Gulch would be a violation of the Clean Water Act and result in penalties.
The project plan also includes reclamation, which involves processed sediment being returned to the hillside and the hillside being recontoured and replanted. The mine plan would require “concurrent reclamation” of 1 acre at a time, meaning each mined acre would be reclaimed before moving on to the next one.
At the hillside in question, the effects of mining from past decades were clear: The loose soils of the slope had eroded away easily from rain, resulting in a steep slope and “quarry-like” appearance. At the top of the eroded slope, a few dozen small pine trees, no more than ten feet tall, were evidence of reclamation efforts from decades ago. They have grown slowly in the clay-rich, nutrient-poor soil.
Talking about reclamation, Bean said, “this is not a no-impact standard. It’s do-the-best-you-can.”
Gold, traditionally a hedge against inflation and economic and political instability, has seen an remarkable price surge recently. The price of gold has more than doubled in the past two years, going from about $2,000 an ounce in January 2024 to about $4,500 an ounce now. The surge has made projects such as Roarick Mine more viable, and may encourage more gold exploration in the valley.
The public comment period for the Roarick Mine project closed on Jan. 7. The project plan and the BLM’s Environmental Assessment of the project is available online at https://eplanning.blm.gov