Conservation Group Victory Bars Yellowstone Mining

A US conservation group has secured an agreement to protect nearly 1,500 acres of private mining claims near Yellowstone National Park, US.

The plan calls for the Trust for Public Land to use US$8m in federal money to buy the claims and convey them to the US Forest Service, ending the fight over the proposed multi-million dollar New World Mine near Cooke City, writes Associated Press.

In 1989, Crown Butte Mines, a subsidiary of Canadian mining company Noranda, proposed the New World Mine project, which includes a large gold mine near Yellowstone.

This was followed by conservation groups warning that mining would harm the park's ecosystem, leading it to be designated a "world heritage site in danger" by a United Nations committee in 1995.

The agreement with the Trust for Public Land gives the right to purchase the land and mining claims over a two-year period.

Last week, conservation groups worried about the threat of uranium mining at one of the world's largest natural wonders filed a lawsuit to defend the Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona, US.

By Ozge Ibrahim