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<br /> <br /> <br /> <br />. ., <br />111 !1!lIIIU!!I!!II <br />Y <br />BMG tells commissioners <br />seep is stopped <br />Battle Mountain Gold mine man- <br />ager Ron Zumwaldt informed the <br />Costilla County Commissioners at <br />their meeting Tuesday morning that <br />,! seepage of contaminated water from <br />-the mine's west pit has been con- <br />' tained. More than 17 million gallons <br />of pit water were treated and released <br />'into the Rito Seco lastmonth. , <br />The seeps which were discovered <br />soon after the closing of the mine <br />ended February 8, said Zumwaldt. <br />"That's good news," he added. <br />Jim Finley, PhD, one of the mine's <br />consultanu, presented large graphs to <br />the commissioners, showing that the <br />levels of manganese and sulfates in <br />the creek had dropped dramatically. <br />Rancher Sandy Cooper expressed <br />his relief follo-wing the report but <br />asked why the most recent water <br />sampling at his headgate showed the <br />lowest "ph" level ever, 6.6. "Ph" <br />measurements reflect water's acidity. <br />Cooper, whose cattle operation is <br />'adjacent to the mine's boundary, also <br />I <br />asked Finley if he could guarantee <br />that groundwater contamination in <br />one of his wells was not directly relat- <br />ed to polluted water from the mint. <br />Finley said he was confident that <br />the type of soils in the area would not <br />allow a plume of contaminated v~ater <br />to reach the well in such a short peri- <br />od of time. <br />Finley also characterizes. as <br />"gross" the EPA's estimate that it <br />would take only IS years for under- <br />ground contamination to reach town <br />wells in San Luis. If there v+ere a <br />plume, said Finley-who believes <br />none exisu-he estimates that it would <br />take 200 years for it to travel the three <br />miles to town. <br />Pressured further by Cooper, <br />Finley admitted that he couldtt t offer <br />assurances on what is happening to <br />water that is underground and out of <br />sight.' <br />"There's a lot of unknowns," <br />Finley said. "Anything is possible." <br />-RKG <br />t <br />i <br />t <br />~. <br />i - <br />f <br />i <br />lA SIERRA , <br />San Luis, CO <br />(Costilla County) <br />---~-----'sdaM, dOO <br />