[CPEO-BIF] [Fwd: Re: Goldfields (California)]

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

From: 	johnwearusa@netscape.net


YES...IMPORTANT SUBJECT!

Take a close look at the Summitville Mine issues of Colorado's past.  I
served as a consultant as to remediation.
Canadian "user" came down to Colorado to "wake-up" an old Colorado
Goldfield. Pit liner didn't work from day 1 (heap leach pad).
Alamosa River trout-kill.  Contaminant began to show up in local crops
down-river.

First mining at Summitville began in about 1870.  Lots of contamination
through years of no regulation; no rules.
Shut down for years, then a permit was allowed and the Canadian operator
leased the site; Galactic Resources, Ltd.,
a sub of SCMCI, a local group.

Strongly motivated, owing to the fact that assays were quite
stimulating, modern mining began.  The Galactic group
took about 300,000 troy ounces of gold and over 300,000 troy ounces of
silver, before Superfund Emergency Response
took over.  More than 155 million gallons of stored water had to be
treated in the remediation.  I don't think any of us
became aware of how much of that cyanide heavy water reached the
beautiful Alamosa.

Many interesting news articles were written, and the EPA Program Profile
is informative.  Instructive history.
Some of the value in a brief study of the Summitville Mine issues
derives from the fact that naturally occuring
heavy metals and numerous other contaminants are released when much
"industrial digging" and earth disturbing
hard-engineering happens without very careful study, planning, and
excellent prevention measures applied.

Certainly, it never hurts to have well motivated local, state, and
federal inspectors and investigators making regular
visits and truly performing due diligence.    jw

John Wear, President

TRIDENT ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES & TECHNOLOGIES, Inc.
P.O. BOX 4123
GULFPORT, MISSISSIPPI 39502
(ROOTZONE HUMUS)



-----Original Message-----
From: Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>
To: Brownfields Internet Forum <brownfields@lists.cpeo.org>
Sent: Thu, Feb 17, 2011 1:13 pm
Subject: [CPEO-BIF] Goldfields (California)

[Gold mines may seem a lot different from manufactured gas plant sites,
old auto plants, and former railyards, but they are just one more
variation on the brownfields theme. - LS]

In New California Gold Rush, Old Mines Reopen

By JESSE McKINLEY
New York Times
February 10, 2011

SUTTER CREEK, Calif. - Standing in a cramped, slanted and slippery
crevice some 500 feet below the earth's surface, David Cochrane turned
his eyes to a ribbon of marbled quartz - mainly gray, amber and white -
and found the one hue he was actually looking for.

...

It was gold, and if people like Mr. Cochrane have their way, gold will
soon be big business again in California's Mother Lode, in the same area
of the Sierra - and occasionally the same mines - where the old-time
prospectors once used pickaxes, ore carts and burros to chase their riches.

...

And while today's methods are safer, Izzy Martin, chief executive of the
Sierra Fund, a nonprofit group devoted to preservation of the Sierra
Nevada, says there are several challenges to mining old mines, including
what previous companies might have left behind.

"There's a lot of toxic materials in there," Ms. Martin said. "And you
have to clean it up."

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/11/us/11gold.html?_r=1

--
Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org <mailto:lsiegel@cpeo.org>>
http://www.cpeo.org


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--


Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org


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