Laserfiche WebLink
<br />L<B>and</B> <B>mine</I:P <br /> <br />rage IV U1 L.V <br /> <br />engineers had anticipated. <br /> <br />Workers pumped out the leaching area, then began repairs. As they did so, <br />ore was being scooped from the face of South Mountain. <br /> <br />Shortly after midnight on June 4, 1986, leaching began, even though parts <br />of the plastic were still not finished. <br /> <br />One week later, monitors detected small amounts of cyanide solution under <br />the plastic liner. Workers pumped the contaminated water back into the <br />system and continued to spray cyanide on ore. <br /> <br />Leonard reported the leak to state officials, who noted the problem but took <br />no action. <br /> <br />Meanwhile, plans went fOlward for a grand opening on July 11, 1986. <br />Friedland arranged for his parents to go to Summitvllle for the event, which <br />local officials also attended. <br /> <br />"We were very proud of it," Friedland said in a recent interview. "I told my <br />mother, 'Look, the company that's building this mine has George Shultz as <br />its president, formerly the secretary of state, and Cap Weinberger, the <br />former secretary of defense, is general legal counsel for Bechtel. Bechtel's <br />stamp was on all the engineering, and Bechtel's senior representatives were <br />there." <br /> <br />But the glee of the opening was short-lived. The dignitaries had barely left <br />before another cyanide leak was discovered. This time, the poison was In <br />the groundwater, meaning liquid was getting through the layer of clay, as <br />well as the plastic. <br /> <br />"This was something major," mine manager Leonard recalled. "This was a <br />true leak." <br /> <br />Opinions vary on whether the leaks were caused by the avalanche or by the <br />faulty construction during the winter. <br /> <br />Finding out for sure would have meant removing more than 100,000 tons of <br />ore - along with clay and mud - already heaped on top of the plastic, <br />Leonard said. The heavy-digging equipment would have gouged even more <br />holes in the liner. <br /> <br />Besides, Galactic was in no position to do anything that didn't bring <br />immediate production of gold. <br /> <br />"We had spent most of the money (borrowed from Bank of America)," <br />Leonard said. "There were problems with creditors. That was a bad point in <br />the year." <br /> <br />Instead of fixing the problem, the company decided to pump the polluted <br />groundwater back into the pool of cyanide solution behind the dike. <br /> <br />Thomas Krasovec, an engineer with the Canadian consulting firm that <br />designed the leaching facility, recalls advising Friedland to remove the ore <br />and fix the liner before piling on more ore. Krasovec, who was educated at <br />the Colorado School of Mines, said he warned Friedland that unless the <br />damage was repaired, water would continue to seep under the plastic <br />sheeting and further erode the clay. <br /> <br />"Mr. Friedland stated that continued gold production was necessary to the <br />financial survival of the project," Krasovec said in a sworn statement. <br /> <br />http://www.denver-rmn.comlnews/0507 smmt l.shtml <br /> <br />517100 <br /> <br />