The Potential Impacts of Gold Mining in Virginia (2023) / Chapter Skim
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1 Introduction
1 Introduction
Pages 9-22
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From page 9... ...
This process was used in Virginia gold mines in the 1800s and early 1900s, but is no longer used in the United States because of mercury's high toxicity and persistence in the environment. Modern, more complex, processes used for commercial gold production in lode deposits are described in Chapter 3.
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Other gold deposits occur in the Virgilina district in the south-central counties of Halifax, Charlotte, and Mecklenburg (see Figure S-1 and Chapter 2)
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. Today, the Virginia Energy Mineral Mining Program administers the health, safety, and land reclamation programs for all noncoal mineral mining operations, which include quarries, sand and gravel pits, and surface and underground mines producing metals or industrial minerals (Virginia Energy, 2022a)
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there are good possibilities for commercial gold production in Virginia, as well as to the south in the Carolinas, Georgia, and Alabama. New exploration methods might uncover gold deposits in areas which have never been exploited." In the fall of 2020, it became widely known that Aston Bay Holdings, Ltd., was performing exploration drilling on privately owned forestland in Virginia's Buckingham County with a goal of assessing the area's potential for gold mining.
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Aggregate 2 677.8 438.4 Amphibolite 1 76.9 22.0 Aplite 1 223.5 119.8 Basalt 1 143.7 129.2 Clay 9 1,637.8 836.4 Diabase 2 427.6 303.3 Diorite 1 160.3 77.6 Dolomite 2 556.8 282.0 Fullers Earth 2 97.7 84.3 Gemstones 2 27.8 27.8 Gneiss 4 969.0 505.8 Gold 1 1.0 1.0 Granite 41 12,837.5 8,080.5 Gravel 5 121.6 82.8 Greenstone 2 859.2 205.9 Iron oxide 1 25.2 9.3 Kyanite 1 2,746.9 737.0 Limestone 71 16,825.9 8,917.9 Marble 1 14.7 14.7 Marl 2 39.6 34.3 Quartz 2 299.8 88.2 Quartzite 2 1,409.4 534.0 Salt 1 184.3 83.7 Sand 219 21,866.3 11,591.5 Sandstone 9 1,000.7 510.0 Shale 27 937.0 167.4 Silica 1 821.3 530.2 Slate 3 924.5 456.9 Soapstone 1 507.7 72.4 Titanium 2 6,168.6 3,893.8 Traprock 8 2,733.9 1,929.4 Unknown 1 17.0 17.0 Uranium 1 194.0 2.0 Vermiculite 1 199.7 132.2 NOTE: Only the primary commodity is listed for operations at which multiple resources are mined. SOURCE: Virginia Energy (2022d)
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. BOX 1-1 Moss Mine The Moss Mine in Goochland County is currently the only permitted active mining operation in the Commonwealth of Virginia whose primary purpose is to recover gold.
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Accordingly, the committee is unable to comment on the efficacy of the processing approach, or its long-term impact on the site and local environment. CHARACTERISTICS OF VIRGINIA RELEVANT TO GOLD MINING IMPACTS The following sections outline key characteristics of gold-bearing regions of Virginia with potential relevance to gold mining activities.
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to evaluate technical, economic, and legal factors to determine whether mineral reserves exist and, if so, to estimate the quantity and value of such mineral reserves. In this report, the committee considers gold occurrences that, even if they are not considered mineral resources or reserves today, could be deemed mineral resources or reserves with more exploration or changes in economic conditions.
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NOTES: Overlain on the map are historic gold mines (red dots) and the gold-pyrite belt and Virgilina district outlined in black.
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and the gold-pyrite belt and the Virgilina district outlined in black. The large yellow circle denotes the location of Aston Bay's exploration property in Buckingham County.
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However, because seismic waves propagate much farther in the eastern United States (Frankel et al., 1990; Pollitz and Mooney, 2015) than • Historical Earthquake Epicenter - Central Virginia Seismic Zone Gold-pyrite belt Eastern Tennessee Seismic Zone Giles County Seismic Zone / ' Virgilina district FIGURE 1-10 Locations of the Central Virginia, Eastern Tennessee, and Giles County seismic zones showing historical earthquake epicenters.
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Committee members also visited several sites where they received tours and presentations relevant to gold mining activities in Virginia and elsewhere in the eastern United States. This included visits to the Moss Mine BOX 1-3 Statement of Task An ad hoc committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine will evaluate the impacts of gold mining in Virginia, with an emphasis on potential impacts of gold mining on public health, safety, and welfare.
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This report outlines general themes and procedures that are important to assessing potential gold mining projects in Virginia, but comprehensive and robust analysis of site-specific environmental baseline characteristics and evaluation of population and ecosystem health and social and environmental justice considerations are necessary in order to adequately assess the potential impacts of particular projects. As described in Box 1-2, the committee interpreted "gold mining" to refer to the extraction of gold from a mineral reserve where gold is a primary metal of material economic interest.
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Chapter 3 describes how those gold deposits might be mined and processed. Chapter 4 presents potential impacts associated with the mining of gold deposits in Virginia.
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