A Nevada-based company wants to build Oregon’s first chemical-process gold mine in Malheur County, about 22 miles south of Vale.

The federal government is asking for input on Paramount Gold’s proposal, which could bring jobs and investment to the remote region, but could also deplete groundwater reserves in a struggling aquifer and its bright lights might harm wildlife. Though unlikely, it could also leak arsenic into drinking water reserves.

This process uses a cyanide solution to dissolve gold from its ore.

The Grassy Mountain Gold Mine would occupy nearly 470 acres of public land for the next decade, and then the site would undergo a four-year restoration period and 20 years of monitoring.

The mine is expected to pull about 380,000 ounces of gold and 554,000 ounces of silver from the earth, an increase from previous estimations. That’s about $1.3 billion worth of metal, as the price of gold has skyrocketed in recent years.

The proposal is under review at a time when newly imposed tariffs are roiling the price of gold and creating greater incentives to produce it inside the United States.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management announced Friday that the public can provide input on the project’s environmental impact statement on the agency’s website (click the green ‘Participate Now’ button) until Sept. 8.

The agency is holding a public meeting on Aug. 19 at its Vale office, which people can also attend remotely. Email agency spokesperson Larisa Bogardus at [email protected] for details.

A Trump-appointed agency leader celebrated the project in a press release.

“This Administration is committed to leveraging every available authority to expedite domestic mineral development,” acting BLM director Bill Groffy wrote. “Our agency is instrumental in driving national economic growth and fostering local employment opportunities.”

Paramount Gold didn’t respond to a request for comment by press time.

The BLM’s environmental impact statement is part of a review process that Paramount Gold needs to undertake before it can start mining. It’s a document that outlines all the ways the project might harm the environment.

Although the Trump administration has proposed removing some public input requirements for environmental reviews like this, that proposal is not currently in effect.

Among the project’s potential harms, chemical mining could suck up a lot of water in a region that is already running dry. Paramount Gold has state permission to use about 900 gallons of water a minute, according to the analyses, drawing its water from five wells.

That could sink groundwater levels by as much as 42 feet. It will take 20 years for those levels to recover near the project’s water wells, the impact statement projects. It would likely take much longer — up to 100 years — for water levels closest to the mine to recover.

The mine could also increase arsenic levels in nearby groundwater, which people in the area use for drinking water, if there is a chemical leak. The city of Vale is already struggling with arsenic in its drinking water pulled from its wells.

The chemical mining process will leave behind nearly 4 million tons of byproduct, including waste rock, water and chemicals. Most of the waste rock will be used to backfill the underground mine. The remaining byproduct will be stored in lined pits.

One of those pits will be buried to look like a hill. Liquid waste will collect in a lined pond and be reused throughout the mining process. Paramount says it will treat this wastewater with chemicals to neutralize cyanide before storing it in the open pond, which will be fenced off.

The risk of these lined pits leaking is low, the review says. If there is a leak, it would likely stay confined to that area. Still, there is a risk that a chemical leak could pollute groundwater with arsenic and other chemicals.

The mine’s bright lights and noise could also disorient wildlife, including sage grouse, a sensitive species experiencing alarming population declines, as well as bats. To avoid harming sage grouse with noise pollution, Paramount Gold says it will avoid construction blasting during the species’ mating period from March through June.

The mine could have some local economic benefits. Paramount expects to hire up to 120 new employees. While it says it will prioritize local workers, it will likely relocate about 45 workers from outside Malheur County.

The county could also earn about $2.9 million in taxes from the project over the course of the decade — about $300,000 a year, which is less than 1% of its current annual revenue.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/08/08/blm-public-input-proposed-eastern-oregon-gold-mine/