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•, .~ .~ .~ ,~ ~~ ~ I ~, , •, •, •, , .1 .I •, .~ ~`. ~l 1 '~ .~ sold as concentrate or shipped to converters in Pennsylvania, Iowa and overseas. Tailing from the mill flows, as a 35% solids slurry, through a 36 in diameter pipeline to the tailing pond dam. Mill water is taken from the opposite end of the pond, and all precautions imaginable have been taken to prevent contamination of the Williams Fork River, in whose headwaters the tailing pond is lo- cated. Experiment in Ecology Tailing disposal, although a major environmental problem in any mining/milling operation, was not the only ecological consideration in the development of the Henderson property. In fact, the company began its venture with an openminded communication between its officers and environmentalist groups. The fact that environmentalists provided input from the start no doubt led to considerable capital expenditures but, on the other hand, must surely have forestalled confrontations and attendant construction delays as work progressed. The program, designated "Ex- periment in Ecology" was or- ganized between the company and the Colorado Open Space Coor- dinating Council in 1967, three years before the enactment of NEPA and its requirements for environmental impact statements. Beyond the already-mentioned fact of mill site selection, the program eventually in- cluded such projects as: an en- vironmental inventory to establish quantitatively the nature of the ter- ritory that would be affected, a program of minimum deforestation in which even power lines were erected by helicopter to minimize damage from conventional equip- ment. Such trees as had to be re- moved were drawn out by horses lest tracked vehicles disturb the soil. Over 6000 trees were planted at the mine and mill sites and at the site of the decommissioned Urad Mine. At Urad, additionally, the topography was regraded and replanted even though this had been an under- ground mine and surface distur- bance, by mining standards, was minimal. The public actually saw a net increase in accessible outdoors recreation area since much of the land purchased for the venture had previously been privately held and closed to public use. About 15,000 acres have now been opened, al- though motor vehicles, recreational vehicles and horses are banned from entry. Was it worth it? It is a matter of record that the Hen- derson project ranks among the most expensive mining develop- ments in modern history. To assess its value, though, one must only consider the alternatives. Delays, protracted litigation and govern- mental intervention were avoided, and the project came on Stream as originally scheduled. From this standpoint alone, the Henderson Mine and Mill must be viewed as an eminently successful engineering achievement • © CLIMAX MOLYBDENUM COMPANY ONE GREENWICH PLAZA, GREENWIC N, CONN EL'TIC~.IT f]6©'3^ ~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~ VIII VIII ~~~~~ ~~~~ IIII 21258 AMA~~ INC. Reforestation, an essential part of the Henderson "Experiment in Ecology