WASHINGTON — To protect against the potential environmental and health impacts of gold mining, Virginia’s general assembly and state agencies should update state laws and regulations, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. A robust regulatory framework and modern best practices would significantly reduce many of the potential impacts associated with gold mining, although the risk of adverse impacts cannot be eliminated completely.

Updates could include improving financial assurance regulations to mitigate the fiscal risks to the state of gold mining operations, as well as expanding the state’s opportunities for public engagement in the permitting process. Because analysis of an individual gold mining project or site is essential to assess its possible human health and ecological impacts, the report also recommends the general assembly and state agencies ensure that rigorous site- and project-specific assessments are completed prior to permitting.

Virginia was one of the first major gold-producing states in the U.S., but it has seen only limited and intermittent gold mining activity in the last 70 years. Recently, due to rising gold prices and other factors, there has been renewed attention on mining gold at both new and historical sites in Virginia — and concerns have been raised about the environmental and health impacts. The Potential Impacts of Gold Mining in Virginia says that Virginia’s current regulatory system lacks an effective and consistent process for reviewing the potential impacts of possible gold mining projects — making it unlikely that robust site-specific impact assessments will take place.

“If gold mining were to resume in Virginia, regulation and oversight should be the cornerstone of state efforts to mitigate negative impacts,” said William Hopkins, professor in the department of fish and wildlife conservation, Virginia Tech, and chair of the committee that wrote the report. “But, as these regulations currently stand, they are not up to the task of assessing the risks to Virginia’s communities and environment and ensuring that industry adheres to modern best practices. Our report points to opportunities to strengthen these systems to meet the challenges ahead.”

Potential Risks of Gold Mining in Virginia

The report examines the potential impacts of gold mining on human health, including:

• Metals and other elements that pose a concern for human health, including mercury, antimony, arsenic, cadmium, lead, and thallium, could be released or remobilized by gold mining. The release of legacy mercury from historic mining operations poses a particular risk. The specific risk of individual substances and the concentrations at which they are most likely to be released from mining operations varies by the geologic conditions at individual sites.

• Air quality is not likely to be significantly degraded by gold mining in Virginia if appropriate engineering controls are in place.

• Catastrophic failures of gold mine tailings dams and cyanide solution containment structures are low-likelihood events, but could cause significant damage to communities and environments.

• Metals and other elements that pose a concern for human health, including mercury, antimony, arsenic, cadmium, lead, and thallium, could be released or remobilized by gold mining. The release of legacy mercury from historic mining operations poses a particular risk. The specific risk of individual substances and the concentrations at which they are most likely to be released from mining operations varies by the geologic conditions at individual sites.

• Air quality is not likely to be significantly degraded by gold mining in Virginia if appropriate engineering controls are in place.

• Catastrophic failures of gold mine tailings dams and cyanide solution containment structures are low-likelihood events, but could cause significant damage to communities and environments.

The report also examines the potential impacts of gold mining on the environment, including:

• Acid rock drainage is among the most important potential environmental impacts and is most likely in Virginia if gold mines disturb nearby massive sulfide deposits. It can cause acidity, high salinity, and elevated concentrations of toxic metals in surface water and groundwater. Acid rock drainage can persist long after mining has ended if appropriate engineering controls are not in place.

• Open impoundments of cyanide can pose acute toxicity risks to wildlife unless properly managed using internationally accepted best practices. Wildlife is attracted to virtually any surface water, and process water from mining operations held in containment pools can contain cyanide and cause poisoning.

• Acid rock drainage is among the most important potential environmental impacts and is most likely in Virginia if gold mines disturb nearby massive sulfide deposits. It can cause acidity, high salinity, and elevated concentrations of toxic metals in surface water and groundwater. Acid rock drainage can persist long after mining has ended if appropriate engineering controls are not in place.

• Open impoundments of cyanide can pose acute toxicity risks to wildlife unless properly managed using internationally accepted best practices. Wildlife is attracted to virtually any surface water, and process water from mining operations held in containment pools can contain cyanide and cause poisoning.

Regulatory Capacity and Standards

The report says the capacity to regulate is as important as having strong regulations, and requires robust funding of regulatory agencies and entities as well as the ability to directly issue penalties or fines for noncompliance. The state’s regulatory system also needs diverse and appropriate technical expertise, and effective coordination among multiple entities — which is especially critical for protecting air and water quality. Given the state’s lack of experience regulating gold mining specifically, regulators’ current expertise and familiarity with best practices may be limited.

The report says that fiscal and environmental risks would be reduced with improved guidance and performance standards for engineering practices — such as geochemical characterization, water management, and waste rock management.

Financial Assurance

The state lacks an adequate financial assurance system, says the report, which poses not just an environmental risk but also fiscal risk to the taxpayers of Virginia. Virginia’s current regulations require mine operators to produce a bond, setting aside funds for land reclamation and other costs associated with the impacts of mining. The state’s current bonding requirements are insufficient to cover the costs of reclamation and long-term stewardship of gold mining and processing operations. The state’s Minerals Reclamation Fund, a bonding system that pools risk among mining operations, could be greatly depleted or even exhausted by the impacts of gold mining.

Regulatory Exemptions

Virginia provides exemptions from regulatory oversight for off-site processing of mined materials and for exploratory drilling, but these operations carry the potential for negative impacts, the report says. For example, the waste materials from off-site processing facilities can contain a broader range of potential contaminants than an on-site processing facility, as the material being processed off-site can come from several locations.

Public Engagement

The current requirements for public engagement in Virginia are inadequate, says the report, because they require the provision of limited information, place the burden of public notification on the mine permit applicant, and apply only to limited permit recipients. The report emphasizes the importance of initiating community participation at the earliest stages of gold exploration and throughout the life cycle of a mine.

The study — undertaken by the Committee on Potential Impacts of Gold Mining in Virginia — was sponsored by the Virginia Department of Energy and the National Academy of Sciences’ Arthur L. Day Fund.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine are private, nonprofit institutions that provide independent, objective analysis and advice to the nation to solve complex problems and inform public policy decisions related to science, technology, and medicine. They operate under an 1863 congressional charter to the National Academy of Sciences, signed by President Lincoln.

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