The United States Bureau of Land Management approved a new gold mine project near Wickenburg.

The project raised environmental concerns regarding water usage, potential groundwater contamination and the impact on the Sonoran Desert tortoise habitat.

Public comments both supported the project for potential economic benefits and opposed it due to environmental risks.

Just outside of Wickenburg, where tourists can get a taste of Arizona’s old mining days by signing up for a “gold mine experience,” the United States Bureau of Land Management has approved a resurgence of this activity.

In a June 23 news release, the agency announced its approval for a new gold mine project across 330 acres of publicly owned land in the Rogers Wash area about 5 miles southeast of Wickenburg in Maricopa County. The site is located within the Bradshaw Mountains region along the West San Domingo Peak Trail, about 2 miles east of U.S. 60, according to National Environmental Policy Act register documentation.

There, in the shadow of the historic Crown King gold mine that shut down in 1899 after a 25-year struggle with a lack of water, low mineral yield and damaging weather, Rattler Resources LLC has been granted approval to “develop, operate and maintain a surface placer mining operation.” The company, which the BLM confirmed is based in Wickenburg, lists Brad Matney as its agent and COO. It controls 17 unpatented mining claims within the proposed site, according to its register documentation, out of more than 55,000 mining claims recorded across Arizona’s public lands.

Matney did not immediately respond to The Arizona Republic’s requests for more detail about his plans.

Active mining disturbance will take place in two phases, with active, unreclaimed disturbance totaling no more than 50 acres at a time, all across a 95.5-acre span of the 330-acre site, according to the news release. A temporary ore processing wash plant was proposed for both phases, which will include equipment storage, a mechanical gold-recovery wash plant and storage pond, an access road and an ore stockpile area.

The project was expected to last between seven and 10 years, though “economic factors and discovery of additional ore could extend mining operations,” the news release said. In addition to gold, the project will be allowed to extract other minerals, including “precious and base metals, strategic minerals and rare-earth minerals,” according to the news release.

The new approval authorizes operations “as long as there is active mining activity,” which can depend on costs and market value of the minerals obtained, said Chris Wonderly with the BLM Phoenix District Office.

Those may include monazite, allanite and zircon in addition to gold, which is “most famously used in coinage and jewelry, but is also used in electronics, medicine and dentistry,” Wonderly said.

Prior to approval, the BLM received input from the public about the project during a 30-day comment period in March. One unnamed commenter expressed support for how the mine might bring jobs and investments to the local area.

Lisa Miller, who owns the Luxury Gold Mine hotel and tourist experience near Rogers Wash, told The Republic she has her own mining claims “very nearby to these particular claims” and has been maintaining several miles of access roads into the area with her own tractors and dozers.

“I feel like any activity over there will only enhance what I’m doing,” she said. “I mainly do tourism. We take people in air-conditioned all-terrain vehicles and drive them around the middle of the desert to see wildlife and different mine shafts, but if there’s somebody that’s nearby to me that’s finding tons of gold and having trucks going up and down that road, I think it would just be helpful.”

A dozen other public comments the BLM received about the project, however, outlined concerns about its potential impact on wildlife in the area, risks for groundwater contamination with heavy metals and its “tremendous” water use.

Ed LaRue, a member of the Desert Tortoise Council conservation group, submitted comments objecting to a potential loss of water access for local plants and animals, a likely invasion of non-native weeds and the BLM’s plan to restore the habitat after mining was completed, which he viewed as insufficient and lacking detail.

“We found no analysis of this impact to the (Sonoran Desert tortoise) species,” he wrote in one comment. “Given (the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976’s) mandate regarding degradation of the land, the criteria for measuring success should be high and should include plant and animal biodiversity, including the needs of juvenile and adult tortoises.”

The Sonoran Desert tortoise has been proposed for listing under the Endangered Species Act but is not currently protected by this federal law. The Mojave Desert tortoise, which occupies habitats slightly further north, is federally listed as threatened.

The BLM Hassayampa field office agreed to conduct clearance surveys for tortoises in response to LaRue’s complaints, though Wonderly said that “habitat quality in the site is generally poor due to existing disturbance from recreational vehicle use in the wash and a lack of suitable burrows to withstand climate extremes during the year.” Mr. LaRue did not answer The Republic’s inquiries about whether this satisfied his concerns.

Regarding most other comments about the Sonoran Desert tortoise, the BLM simply stated that “mining is a valid multiple use of public lands,” or that “reclamation will aim to restore habitat to conditions conducive for wildlife.”

Still, advocates worried that an area mined for gold would not be possible to sufficiently restore for sensitive, long-lived species. Wonderly told The Republic they are unaware of research on how well tortoises repopulate disturbed areas.

Michael Colaianni, media relations director for the Arizona Game and Fish Department, was unable to determine whether state wildlife biologists were involved in the environmental review before the mine’s approval by BLM and declined to comment on the project’s likely impact to tortoises.

To most water-related public comments, the BLM’s Hassayampa field office responded that “Rattler Resources LLC already holds a valid permit for their proposed water use” and “no chemical-based extraction methods will be used.”

This, also, may not be reassuring to some concerned citizens.

“Life on the desert is not sustainable without adequate water resources, and the mine’s proposed rate of consumption seems extremely irresponsible in this environment, particularly in a period of extreme drought,” wrote Colleen Morrison.

In the Bradshaw Mountains’ gold mining past, the Crown King mine struggled to operate consistently due to water scarcity and, paradoxically, the occasional damaging flood, according to a website on Crown King history. The mine shut down several times, closing for the final time in 1899. The remaining town still functions as a tourist destination.

Past gold mines have left a different legacy in other parts of Arizona and the American West, leading some environmentalists to express worry about the new venture. In 2015, the Gold King Mine in Colorado spilled an estimated 3 million gallons of wastewater contaminated with lead, iron, arsenic and other minerals into the Animas River, which flows to Lake Powell where much of Arizona’s drinking water is stored before being released downstream.

More recently and closer to the new mining site, the Crown King Fire Station held a public meeting in April 2024 about a plan to clean up tailings left behind at a 15-acre abandoned mine site on the Prescott National Forest, where exposed heavy metals now present safety and ecological hazards, according to the United States Forest Service.

In response to The Republic’s question about whether the new mine approval represents a resurgence of gold mining in Arizona, Wonderly said that “projects like this support U.S. policy to expand domestic mineral production.”

This may reference a recent executive order signed by President Donald Trump urging an immediate increase in domestic mining activity. His second term has also been marked by a rollback of federal regulations on pollution.

Joan Meiners is the climate news and storytelling reporter at The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com. Follow Joan on Twitter at @beecycles, on Bluesky @joanmeiners.bsky.social or email her at joan.meiners@arizonarepublic.com.

(This story has been updated to add more information.)