GENERAL51815 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii 999 Pueblo, Colorado, Sa[urdav, April '. i~t ~-' Battle i~~ o-~.n twin Gold Mine closes =High copper, cyanide levels discovered in tailings pond By ERCY SMITH The Purblo Chirjrwn SAN LUiS -Battle Mountain Gold Mine closed i[s mill this week because of high copper and ryaoide levels in the tailings pond. Opinions diner on the danger to wildhfe and humans at the pond. Bruce Humphries, minerals program supervisor for the Colo- rado Mine Land Reclama[ion Board, said Friday that while lev- els of cyanide viola[e Ba[tle Mountain's a¢reemrnt with the stale, the board does not view them as an environrttental health or public. safety hazard. Officials ehecked~Battle~Moun-` twin's containment system and found no potential hazards, Hum- phries said. Humphries said his office etn't force Battle Mountain. which op- erates a gold mining operation several miles northeas[ of San Luis, [o cease is operations be- cause of high levels of cyanide, but the the board could conduct a hearinu on the ma«tr and issue a citation. Humph~irs said 9attle hloun- taids 1991 annual moor[ showed « could be in viula[iun of per- milted amounts of ryan;de. Board director Mike Long asked Battle Mountain to cease the milling operation ioluntarily at Less[ until the board's next' meeting April 2?-23. The mine shu[ down at 5:30 p.a. Wednes- day. The I99I report showed the to-' tal ryaoide concentrauc n was 240 pans per million. Hum ahries said the company's amoun[ of free ry- aoide was 170 pare par million, almost 40 times the :ompany's agreed-upon level. Mike Gomez, via p•esidrnt oC~ lo[ worse than we thought it would be." Gomez and the committee maintain that 32 ducks have died on the tailings pond bepuse of cyanide. He said even one-third of the amount of ryaoide in the wa- ter would be fatal for ht mans. "Any[hing that landed in there and took one sip was cead:' Go- mez said. Battle M1lountain's pniec: man- a_^_cr Gurv Dodson disar.rrs. Dodson said the ha -sh winter Please see dine. Psge ?.\ • Mine Conunoed from Page lA played havoc with the system his company had devised to dissipate the cyanide. Battle Mountain sim- ply must come up with another system, other than the sun, to de- toxify the water before recgcling. But, Dodson said, "jobs and the environment are nut at risk." Dodsoo said the thine would like to try zinc ferns stilfate t0 bond the molecules of cyanide, sending them [o the hottom oC pond rendering them hartnlcss. - Dodsoo denies any ducks died on the pond, slating that he went to the pond himself and sei red tune ducks off the water. The wa- terfowl flew away. H umphnes said his office's invcsn;auon coul.'. not turn up any dead ware-fowl or other ant- malstither. Battle Mountain has it su[uted precautions - a man with a shoo- gun and haunt: cannon - to keep waterfowl away, he s:.id. The company also has put on guards [o patrol the grounds to keen unauthorized people nut. Humphries said Battle Moun- tain is being asked to provide a short-term plan to rid the pond of excess cyanide and a long-term plan [o deal with cyanide t!e:oxifi- cation during the «clama ion pe• rind after the mine closes. Gomez said residenu nec:ing with the M1tined Land R~c!ama- tian Board made it clear thry did not want their vallcv [o br:cme another Summttsillr, wh:!; has experienced cyanide std ~. ;r.'o area r. cc4s. (oreira - .:. Chet mmc and po:cr.ua.~l. ... _... million dollur dc.; c..r.