Eagle Mine Superfund Site Public Tour

• Description: Eagle Mine Superfund Site Public Tour
• State: CO
• Title: Eagle Mine Superfund Site Public Tour
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Publication

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Eagle Mine Superfund Site Public Tour
Colorado Depuwmt
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The Eagle Mine site, located in Eagle County, Colorado, is approximately one mile southeast of
Minturn. The site is composed of an inactive mining and milling facility, associated waste rock
and roaster pile areas, tailings piles, the abandoned Town of Gilman, Belden mill area, Rex Flats,
Rock Creek Canyon, and the Maloit Park wetlands area. The Eagle. River, Cross Creek, and
several other tributaries run through the site.
HISTORY OF THE EAGLE MINE
In the late 1800s, miners discovered gold and silver in the area between Redcliff and Minturn.
Mining of gold and silver continued until the turn of the century, when zinc mining began. In
1912, the Empire Zinc Company began to acquire properties in the Red Cliff and Gilman area.
The Empire Zinc Company then consolidated its properties into one operation, the Eagle Mine.
New Jersey Zinc bought the mining operation in the 1920's and an underground mill was
constructed entirely within the mine workings. The mill tailings were slurried through a wood -
stave pipeline /trestle system to a location down stream, known as the "Old Tailings Pile." When
the Old Tailings Pile reached capacity, the pipeline was extended and tailings were deposited near
the confluence of the Eagle River with Cross Creek in an area known as the "Consolidated
Tailings Pile." Zinc, which is used to harden steel, was a valuable wartime resource. During
World War II, the population of Gilman surpassed 1,000 people. At its peak in the 1950s, the
Eagle Mine employed over 700 miners.
In 1966 the mine was sold to Gulf and Western Industries. Successive ownership led to
involvement of certain of the mine property holdings in a savings and loan bankruptcy. After
over 100 years of mining, the mine was abandoned in 1984.
REGULATORY HISTORY
In 1983 the state of Colorado filed a Superfund lawsuit for natural resource damages due to
elevated levels of metals found in the Eagle River. The Eagle Mine site was added to the National
Priorities List as a Superfund site in 1986. At that time the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) and the State of Colorado entered into an agreement designating the Colorado Department
of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) as lead agency on the project. The entity responsible
for the clean -up project (referred to as the Potentially Responsible Party or PRP) at the Eagle
Mine Site is Viacom International, Inc. (Viacom). Viacom is the successor in interest to The New
Jersey Zinc Company, a former operator of the Eagle Mine.
SITE CLEAN -UP
Metals present in wastes at the Eagle Mine site include arsenic, cadmium, copper, iron, lead, and
manganese, with zinc occurring in the highest concentrations. The risks from this site are
primarily environmental. Both fish and aquatic insects were impacted by the degraded water
quality caused by metal discharges into the Eagle River.
Implementation of the remedial action plan began in 1988. Remedial action included:
bulkheading adits, flooding mine workings; constructing diversion ditches around waste rock;
consolidating mine wastes in an on -site tailings pile; capping the tailings pile with a multi - layer,
engineered cap; and revegetating disturbed areas with native plants. Throughout the clean up