“The problem with these big mines is there’s post-mining activities that need to happen to make sure that 50 to 100 years from now there’s not going to be some major water quality problem,” said attorney Chris DeScherer, director of the law center. “Part of what we aimed for was to get as much in the way of financial assurances. No matter what happens, the state won’t be left holding the bag.”
With water runoff a chief concern, OceanaGold paid $80 million for a water treatment system that went into use last summer.
“We reuse what we can, and for what we can’t, we can discharge top quality water,” said Jeremy Rozelle, the mining company’s process manager.
OceanaGold in the summer of 2025 added a water filtration system to cleanse its gold mine’s runoff in Kershaw, in southern Lancaster County.
OceanaGold has created a couple of endowments to aid with environmental concerns. One, to be handled by the state Department of Natural Resources, is a $3.7 million endowment for the preservation of the Carolina heelsplitter, an endangered mollusk that lives in shallow streams and rivers in the Kershaw area.
Researchers for the mining company are also taking wildlife samples from bats, birds and fish to determine any impact the operation could have on the creatures.
“We’re trying to improve these ecosystems if we can,” said Nick Riggins, environmental compliance manager for the site. “The monitoring shows we’ve have no ecological impact.”
OceanaGold projects the mining operation will continue through 2037, when it will no longer be able to access the gold there.
If that’s when the mine is closed, there’s a reclamation plan for the acreage to turn the mountainous peaks from grey to green. The dirt, rock and gravel covering the land will be replaced with grass.
Golden opportunities for the future
Economic precautions have to be taken as well for a gold mine town, where residents such as former Kershaw Town Administrator Mitch Lucas said they’ve witnessed the impact of losing such a revenue maker. Haile closed in 1992, coinciding with that decade’s decline for the textile industry, which had a strong presence in Kershaw.
