If you looked at the video you'll see the proposed dry stack area is covered with light colored sand, (tailings). This was left over from years ago. The only difference between the tailings at the dry stack location and the tailing ponds at the mill is the water content when it's moved from the mill. At the ponds, they would flush the tailings down a pipe to the ponds using water. Eventually the water evaporates. When I was there last year, I could have walked on the lower and upper ponds at the mill - it was dry. If you check out the mill on Google Maps you can see the middle pond is darker. This is a liner that was put in about 9 years ago. Using the water method makes it easier to move short distances.
Dry stack just means they will keep the tailings dry as it leaves the mill and be trucked down the road. (I believe they consider dry to mean less than 15% moisture content.)
You have to realize they haven't done large scale mining in that area for years. 20 years ago the regulations and the permiting process was a little easier. You can look at the DRMS site and see hand written submissions that were fairly informal. Today, you better have a lawyer ready to check the spelling and punctuation. The process is tough and it's a scary proposition for the locals to go to bat and suffer the constant beat downs by the DRMS. It's been tried before with poor results. The general response to someone saying they want to mine in the area is - it can't be done. CGFI is going for it and is the first to test the waters. They've gone further than anyone else has - and it's looking really good at this point. People in the area are taking notice and learning what it takes.
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