A lot has been going on throughout Jefferson County these last few months.
The most significant is the looming closure of the Golden Sunlight Mine in Whitehall. It is the second largest taxpayer in the county behind NorthWestern Energy. There will definitely be some major adjusting to do in our budget to compensate for the loss of this tax base — I’d estimate the total annual loss would be between $700,000 and $1,000,000, which will affect the entire county.
On the positive side, the mine is looking at a project to re-mine its tailings (as well as other mines’ tailings) to pull out remaining useful minerals. This would extend the life of the mine for a considerable peroid and employ quite a few folks. We hope they find this project feasible and move forward with it.
