A legal notice that owners of a chemical processing facility in Dayton have applied for a water pollution control permit has drawn the attention of nearby residents who fear the plant could endanger lives and property values.
"I moved my family to Dayton because it was a nice, quiet bedroom community. .... Now I find out they want to open an ore processing plant in my back yard," Dayton resident Brent Gates wrote to the Nevada Appeal.
"The noise and traffic, damage to roads alone is enough for me to say no, but the use of thousands of gallons of sodium cyanide to process the ore is definitely out of the question."
But company officials from Eden Research LLC say those fears are unfounded, and that the operation in Dayton Valley Industrial Park will be neighborhood-
friendly.
"All businesses use chemicals, but we will be using them in very dilute amounts," said Mary Mains, Eden's chief executive officer, from her Leavenworth, Wash., home. "We are using a building in the industrial park. It is a pilot plant and we will be doing research only."
The July 1 public notice in the Nevada Appeal from the state's Division of Environmental Protection, Bureau of Mining Regulation and Reclamation says in part:
"The project consists of a beneficiation and chemical process facility, designed to extract gold and silver from various ores and in the process generate a byproduct which has potential for use as a soil amendment. Sodium cyanide and other chemical reagents are used in the extraction process. The maximum permitted processing rate is 36,000 tons of ore per year. Ore will be transported to the EDEN Research Facility by truck and all beneficiation and chemical processing will take place in an enclosed building with containment."
Dayton resident Ronald Adams said he feels betrayed.
"This one flew under the radar - a gold and silver refinery disguised as a research facility," said Adams. "Putting a refinery that will initially process 200,000 pounds of ore daily (72 million pounds yearly) using cyanide should have been trumpeted from the rooftops with public hearings in Dayton."
But Lyon County Planning Director Rob Loveberg said Eden was approved in September 2007 for a special use permit to produce a soil amendment.
"Extraction of precious metals wasn't the thrust then. They had to provide us with (a list of) the chemicals they'd be using and their permit was subject to 10 conditions, including a hazard mitigation plan," Loveberg said.
"As far as we know, Eden has not been operating. They are still going through the permitting process, and they're going to use an existing structure which has a hazardous materials containment system already in place," he said.
"Between the state and the county, there are certain to be enough restrictions in place to protect the public, and we certainly wouldn't do anything to jeopardize the citizens of Lyon County with something inappropriate," Loveberg said.
Mains said the focus of the operation in Dayton is research into a new soil amendment to be called "Eden's Minerals."
The process they will be using breaks down ores so completely it releases hundreds of minerals and trace minerals, she said.
"This includes precious minerals," Mains said. "We are licensed to take them and will use the money to pay the bills for our research."
She said she believes the plant will pose very little risk.
"We will be using only about 2,000 gallons of solution at any one time, but our containment area is set up to handle 30,000 gallons, and everything is sealed and triple sealed," Mains said.
"I will work there with my only son and I rent a home in Dayton so I want it to be safe. Safety is our utmost priority."
Lab testing of Eden's Minerals has shown that it improves the health of soils by replenishing minerals and trace minerals, Mains said. It is so effective, she said, that grains, vegetables and fruits are twice as, if not three times, more productive. They are also resilient to the point that pesticides aren't needed as often.
So far, the only work that has been going on in the facility is building equipment and obtaining permits, Mains said.
"We can't test until all the permits are received, and we hope to be testing by September.
The company is licensed for six trucks but only expects to operate two a day, which will result in four total trips over the roads each day.
If testing shows that Eden's Minerals is a viable product, Mains said four production plants are planned - in Oregon, California, South Carolina and Nevada.Ū