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the ponds wouldn't exceed 4.4 parts <br />per million, or ppm (40.50 ppm is <br />considered lethal th wildlife). <br />Last October, company officials <br />apparent]y teamed that the amount of <br />cyazade in the ponds was much higher <br />than anticipated. By the time MLRD <br />inspectors were notified of the problem <br />this spring, tests indicated total cyanide <br />levels as high as 220 ppm, filly times <br />the amount allowed by pemut <br />MIRD officials claim the mine failed <br />to file required monitoring reports <br />or to promptly inform the division of <br />its poison problem. Battle Mountain <br />attorney Dean Massey has suggested <br />the division may have misplaced the <br />mine's reports and that the delay in <br />notification was simply a "regulatory <br />misunderstanding." <br />"There were some mistakes made, <br />but they were honest mistakes," a <br />subdued Carl Ellers, Battle Mountain's <br />CEO, told the MLRD board in April. <br />"I'm deeply concerned that we not be a <br />problem to ow neighbors in San Luis." <br />Company officials say a number of <br />factors-an unusually cold, icy winter <br />(cyanide losesits potency in sunlight), <br />an unexpectedly high copper content in <br />the crushed ore, a fancy tailings- <br />treatment system that didn't work <br />the way it was intended-combined <br />to boost the cyanide levels. Andre <br />Douchane, vice president of North <br />American operations for Battle <br />Mountain, says a new, expensive <br />sulfurdioxide process the company <br />wants to install should "provide a <br />bog~erm solution to the problem" <br />Tn drP meantimeradeatLseagulL_ <br />found on the site has been presented <br />anonymously to state wildlife officers; <br />mine employees have also fumed over <br />two duck carcasses. Necropsies on all <br />three have failed to indicate any cyanide <br />poisoning. <br />"I have inspected other mines that <br />represent a much greater threat to <br />wildlife than Battle Mountain," says <br />Gary Mowad, special agent for the U.S. <br />Fish and Wddlife Service. "Ihe~re <br />leaning over backwazds to be <br />cooperative with us." <br />But Mondragon-Valdez says the tests <br />are inconclusive and that she's heard <br />several stories about other dead birds <br />from mine workers who won't go public <br />for fear of losing their jobs. She <br />suggests state and federal wildlife <br />officials haven't been nearly as <br />aggressive in investigating the matter as <br />they were in pursuing a controversial <br />undercover poaching sting against <br />indigent locals three years ago <br />(WW6/14/89). <br />poaching," she says. "Division of <br />Wildlife came down so hard on trtis <br />community-how hard are they trying <br />on this?'llre only way the}~re going to <br />find out what was killed is to subpoena <br />[mine] employees." <br />'lire MLRD board has ordered the <br />mine to reduce the cyanide level to <br />4.4 ppm by June 24. A progress report <br />issued a few days ago indicates the <br />amount of poison in the ponds is going <br />down, but state regulators aren't swe <br />by how much because of conflicting lab <br />results. <br />If the mine fails to come into <br />compliance by the deadline, the ML12D <br />can shut it down, a move that could cost <br />Battle Mountain millions and the county <br />Tests indicated total <br />cyanide levels as high as <br />220 ppm, fifty times the <br />amount allowed by <br />permit. <br />close to a hundred jobs.llre state can <br />also continue to fine the company up to <br />$1,000 a day for violating its permit <br />(the current fine only covers the period <br />up to April'n. But boardmembers have <br />declined to indicate what they might do, <br />and mine opponents fear the company <br />may be allowed a revision to its permit <br />that would let it continue to operate at <br />the <br />Mountain to its original pernilt <br />requirements~r send the company <br />through a gauntlet ofxewpemrit ..„- <br />hearings. At the very least, dley <br />contend, the ponds will continue to be <br />a bird hazard for months to come, and <br />any leak in the ponds protective liners <br />could.result in contamination of <br />groundwater or the lino Seco. <br />"We have no faith in the track <br />record," says Nora Jacquez, attorney <br />for the two groups. '71ris is not <br />a mine operating as anticipated." <br />For now, mine employees are <br />continuing to shoo waterfowl away <br />while waiting for the cyanide levels to <br />fall The blasts from the propane cannon <br />carry their own eloquent message: <br />"The last one in the pond might be a <br />monkeys uncle, but the first one could <br />be a dead duck. <br />i~ _ , <br />