Billions of dollars in gold sparks mine expansion, promise of 250 jobs near SC town

Potentially rich deposits of gold in South Carolina are fueling the expansion of a huge mine that has boosters excited about the prospect of 250 new jobs in a tiny community with a history of unemployment.

OceanaGold’s expansion plan says the Australian company would increase its existing 4,552-acre Haile Gold Mine site by more than 900 acres near Kershaw, a town in Lancaster County halfway between Columbia and Charlotte.

But the proposal to expand won’t happen until federal and state environmental regulators decide whether to approve the bigger mine — and some folks are leery of how more digging might affect the landscape from a gold mine that already is larger than any ever established in South Carolina.

The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control calls the mine expansion “substantial.’’

Read more: https://www.thestate.com/news/politics-government/article231955393.html