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 th

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