Another gold rush could bring open pit mines to South Dakota’s Black Hills
A gold rush brought settlers to South Dakota's Black Hills roughly 150 years ago, chasing the dream of wealth and displacing Native Americans in the process.
Now, a new crop of miners driven by gold prices at more than $3,000 an ounce are seeking to return to the treasured landscape, promising an economic boost while raising fears of how modern gold extraction could forever change the region.
“These impacts can be long term and make it so that tourism and outdoor recreation is negatively impacted,” said Lilias Jarding, executive director of the Black Hills Clean Water Alliance. “Our enjoyment of the Black Hills as a peaceful place, a sacred place, is disturbed.”
The Black Hills encompass over 1.2 million acres (485,622 hectares), rising up from the Great Plains in southwest South Dakota and extending into Wyoming. The jagged peaks are smaller than those of the Rocky Mountains, but the lush pine-covered hills are sacred to the Lakota Sioux people and serve as a destination for millions of tourists who visit Mount Rushmore and state parks.
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