Laserfiche WebLink
iii iuiiiiiiiiu iii <br />999 <br />~_~~~~ <br />Mate levies huge fine <br />on gold mining company <br />Cyanide contamination <br />results in $168,000 <br />penalty, the largest <br />agency can remember <br />By BIII Scanlon <br />News Enuiramnenfal W~ifer <br />The state's mining board Thurs- <br />day stung Battle Mountain Gold <br />miningg:company with $168,000 in <br />lines, fdT willfully ignoring cyanide <br />contattiioation ants mine near San <br />Luis. , <br />It was the largest tine against a <br />-mining cbmpany'that anyone with <br />the Co]tirado Mined Land Recla- <br />mation Divisioacouldremember. <br />"It was fair ... it was excellent. <br />We'll If e; dancing in the streets," <br />l~ttd Itlota Jacquez, attorney •(or <br />~€ostilla County Citizees Alliance. <br />Cyanide, the same"poison that <br />killed death-row inmate Robert Al- <br />ton Harris in •California on Tues- <br />day, has been used in recent years <br />to separate gold ore from rock. <br />The process has sparked a renais- <br />sance in pit gold mining in the <br />West, but has been blamed for <br />kitling fish and despoiling moun- <br />tvnstreams near mine operations. <br />Attorneys for Battle Mountain <br />~Cyold~ ~,~1he leaching process <br />didn't work because Ehere was too <br />much ice in the ponds and because <br />the cyanide Poo often Patched onto <br />the abundant copper ore instead of <br />the gold. An inadequate air supply <br />forced cyanide levels to stay <br />nocMy Mountain Newt <br />above the 100 parts per million <br />Level in the holding ponds, some- <br />times soaring as high as 240 ppm, <br />at(orneyssaid. <br />The Mined Land Division said <br />the company learned about the <br />problem in September but didn't <br />inform the state until late March. <br />Dean Massey, attorney for Bat- <br />tle Mountain, said managers prob- <br />ably erred in believing it wasn't <br />necessary to report elevated lev- <br />els ofcyanide. <br />The come predicts it may <br />take 42 days to reduce cyanide <br />levels in holding ponds to the level <br />-about 50 ppm -where the <br />poison doesn't kill ducks. At $900 <br />a day, that could boost the total <br />fine to more than $200,000. <br />Jacque2 said ne4ghbors who op- <br />posed the mine sitlce its inaugura- <br />tion in 1989 will push foY addition- <br />al daily fines until the cyanide is <br />cleaned up. <br />"I don't see why they're not <br />fined for every day they'te•still in <br />violation," she said. <br />The board resetrved the right to <br />tine the company up to: $1,000 a <br />day until the site is reclaimed. But <br />some members indicated ;that If <br />the company's attitude is good and <br />it it can reduce the threat to wild- <br />life, the daily Eines could end. <br />Battle Mountain attornoy WaF <br />ter Wise said it's bqq far the lamest <br />fjne ever assessld' against the <br />firm. He noted that ntt-ieg' o$- <br />cyanide left the site, drill <br />indicated virtually none of the po"t:" <br />son is threatening ggiroundwater. <br />San Luis residedt Maria Valdez <br />isn't so sure, noting that most the <br />people in the valley live above two <br />aquifers. The upper one, she said, <br />is so shallow water often bubbles• <br />to the surface. <br />"Cyanide mining ... has made <br />mining low-grade pre economical- <br />ly possible;' she said. "But we've <br />become a sacrifice area. I'm a <br />parent ... and I'm not willing." <br />Board member Luke Danielson <br />said he felt betra~e{i because Bat- <br />tle Mountain's good reputation fn <br />the business was going to make <br />the San Luis mine the model to <br />show that mining and environmen- <br />tal sensitivity could go hand lit <br />hand. <br />.o--ea>..,dm«r-~s 'nw?ks"skf~"M~..: ~. -.+5~r .. a8.«~PiE~. c+x~o:;.. ,:..r;.:. .:, pk.W~«M '.»°..~,.,k~_ <br />