Gold Miners Fear Cyanide Cutbacks
By Susan Gallagher
Associated Press Writer
Friday, October 23, 1998; 7:15 p.m. EDT
HELENA, Mont. (AP) -- Cyanide, the lethal compound used by executioners and captured spies to assure a quick death, is also prized by gold miners for its ability to extract gold from rock.
But after a number of spills contaminated water sources, Montana voters will decide if it should be banned from most open-pit mining.
Miners say that would cripple an industry already reeling from falling gold prices. The measure is ''just another attempt by extremist groups to limit opportunities in Montana,'' said Bill Snoddy, spokesman for a group planning a large open-pit project near Lincoln.
Others say a ban on new and expanded mines is necessary after spills like the one in 1982 in the town of Zortman in north-central Montana, when 50,000 gallons spilled, contaminated the town's water supply and poisoned birds and sheep.
Cyanide, a poisonous crystalline compound with the odor of bitter almonds, is used to mine gold in other Western states. The measure, if approved, still would allow cyanide in existing Montana mines.
Supporters of the measure say the risks aren't worth it.
''My husband and I feel our livelihood has been threatened,'' said Stephanie Shammel, a rancher near Lewistown who says the water source for her cattle was contaminated by an open-pit cyanide operation.
The state Department of Environmental Quality takes no position on the measure. It notes that no one was injured as a result of five dozen cyanide spills in Montana in the last 16 years.
''Miners are very careful and we monitor very closely,'' said Bob Winegar of the agency's Environmental Management Bureau.
Miners say alternatives are either too expensive or too dangerous.
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