RAPID CITY, SD — While on visit to the Strider Bikes headquarters on Monday, Governor Larry Rhoden spoke to the potential growth of industry in South Dakota.
The South Dakota-based company produces bikes which help young children learn the balance and motor skills involved in riding a bike, and exists as one of many to import goods to South Dakota from China, however continuing tariff issues have made supply somewhat challenging for the company. According to Rhoden, a GOED study conducted four years prior concluded that such manufacturing was impossible in South Dakota, however this is now being reevaluated, and options for domestic production are being explored by the company.
Following this visit, Rhoden was asked about industrial growth in the Black Hills given recent assessments and exploratory efforts to develop open-pit mines in the area, and preservation of the natural beauty of the area in the face of past environmental contamination concerns with the Homestake Gold Mine, which ceased operations in 2000 following increasing costs, decreasing gold value, and decreasing ore quality.
On this, the Governor had this to say: “I absolutely am open for opportunity, and the state is open for opportunities. So issues like that, we’ve had conversations with different people about rare earth minerals that may or may not be present in South Dakota and specifically in the Black Hills. So we’re open to conversations”, following “And you know, there’s a million different possibilities and scenarios that you would have to take on a case by case basis”.
No new mining operations are confirmed at the moment, however Lakota groups have notably objected to proposed mining operations near the area of Pe’sla, citing the potential threat the Lakota sacred site faces in the face of increased industrial activity.
