Mining ahead?
GreenLight files intent to drill at Bend deposit location in county
News Editor
After years of sitting idle, a potential gold and silver mine site in western Taylor County will see activity this winter.
GreenLight Wisconsin, LLC. (GLW), whose parent company is based in Vancouver, British Columbia and which has offices in Toronto, Ontario and Madison has announced plans to do exploration drilling in Taylor County this winter after the ground has frozen. GreenLight’s parent company purchased both the “Bend” site in Taylor County and the “Reef” site in Marathon County in May 2021 for an estimated $7 million.
The 40-acre site is located in north central Taylor County in the town of Westboro along Yellow River Road. The north fork of the Yellow River runs through the parcel. While it is in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest the Soo Line Railroad d/b/a Canadian Pacific Railway (Soo Line) has the mineral rights to the 40-acre parcel.
GreenLight has filed a notice of intent for six new drill test holes at the site for See GREENLIGHT on page 20 mineral exploration. This is not the first time the site has been looked at.
From the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, the Jump River Joint Venture (JRJV) explored this area and constructed seven diamond drill holes on the parcel pursuant to the mineral lease it had with Soo Line. The JRJV mineral lease with Soo Line terminated in 2003. Aquila Resources, entered into a 20 year mineral lease with Soo Line in 2019. GreenLight has taken over that lease.
The company plans to do the drilling beginning in November after the ground is frozen and anticipates it will take 12 weeks to complete the drilling including commencement of mobilization to the site, construction/ preparation of existing/new drill roads/trails on frozen surface, pad construction on frozen surface, drilling, permanent abandonment of certain holes, temporary abandonment of others, partial/complete restoration of the drill sites, and demobilization. The company plans to be off the site by February or early March 2023 with the exception of mitigation work which may need to be completed in the spring.
According to documents filed with the Department of Natural Resources, access to the site will be from the Yellow River Road and will primarily utilize the roads and trails put in during previous exploration drilling programs with about 550 feet of new drill roads being planned.
Drilling operations will consist of two 2-man crews working 12 hour shifts seven days a week. Each of the drill holes will impact a surface area of about 50 feet by 50 feet with the total area of drilling to be about a third of an acre. The boreholes will be drilling to depths ranging from 260 feet to more than 1,350 feet.
Under the notice of intent, the company says it plans to use the Yellow River that runs near the proposed drill sites for water needs Following the exploration, GreenLight projects it will do site restoration including abandonment of the drill holes at a cost of $45,891.
According to county zoning administrator Kyle Noonan, whose office handles mining permits, at this time GreenLight has filed with the state. Pending approval of the state drilling permit, he said they would be filing also with the county.
“They are waiting for approval from the DNR first,” Noonan said. He noted that based on the materials submitted to the DNR it looks like similar exploratory drilling that has occurred before, but only in a different area.
Noonan said that when the company files with the county it will be presented to the county mining committee for possible action, although he noted there is not much the county has a say in it at this point in the process.
