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d-03-1997 10:d0AM Environmental News FROM ENG. WEST ELK MINE 970 9295050 P. 6 i=4oM ~JESTEFN SLOPE ENYir~Nmp~•r•4L R69x+rdCE COU P[CtL r,t Ef.Y LE77E2 ~•7' ~i."limax revives Kebler Pass mine plan The Climax Molybdenum Company applied Jaa. 15. 1997 for conditional water rights to build a 10.000 ton per day mine and mill on the Kebler Pass Road. approximately half way between the pass and the town of Crested Butts Climax Molyhdentrm, a subsidiary of multinational mining conglotttecate Cypruc Amax, alw fried papers with Gunnison County in January showing phms-m draw wamr from Slate Crock az dte Oh-Ba- Joyful confltutttt, Elk Creek and Carbon Cnxic. Three reservoirs are planned of .1.000 ttao-feu each, plus a 2,000 ataefoot pilings and cludge pond. and numerous pipelines and roads along the eastern edge. of the Raggeds V4~li derness. WSERC has joined wi{h the High Country Citizens Alliance in 'Crested, Butte to fde opposition to the water tights applitxrion. Our filing, m wish. similar protests by neighboring landowners and local gove***r+M•~ in Gunnison County, spas that the water tights application is "speculative' and should be denied under Colorado water law. "In today's mukeccotditions Climax could server put this water m beneficial ttu." says HCCA water expert Steve Glazes. 'Tltry've got the cart before the horse. They firs[ read m show thaz they have a viable mine plan and as ewnomi- oauy marketable ore depolat", Since Climax abandoned its original plan to mine Mt Emmons is 1981, i[ has also closed its big open pit mine in I~adviIle and is now opettttiog it's glen[ Hetdetson mine near Silverthome az 1/3 capacity Wah no change io.sigbt far the inoly tttulcet. there is some skepadsm about CIlcpx's ultimate goal: Glaser pointy out. thaz Clttnax has algo,applied for water righn for municipal sad landscaping purposes. . Jn 1995, be adds, t2Gmax also applied to the BLM,to patent (privatias) hundreds• of acres of mining claims on public land at rho Crested Buue taompias. Under the 1872 mining law, Climax could obtain the claims for just 52.50 per acre. However,. the application was opposed by HCCA, aaQ is currently being bead' up by a ter¢ porary moramriutti oo mhting parcap: - Staar Xinchman West Elk coal mine flood scare - Mother uatttre rettntly visited • a ~"lmmbling expcrientt" upon Mompin Coal's West EIlc Mine, says env¢onmen- pl supervisor Kamy WeIL Explotadon sews at the giant mda- ground mine north of Somerse[ hit a water filled geological fault on Monday, Jmuary 20. u 10:30 a.IIL The leak started as a mckla then quickly peaked az 7,600 gallons per minute. Emergency psoce- dares were implemented, and no workers was injured: some equipnxnt was Ioat. At fine warn 511ed the floor of the m1nG. WhCLO It bCCaIDC ennr'min•r../ wtfh clay, partings of cock and coal dust This dirty water was pumped ism the mine's regular uWing ponds, which se[ved ~effecrively anal Friday, January 24. at 3:00. Then the increasing flow 'ova- wltelmed the ponds and began oo spill into the North Fork Rives. Stare requit®eats limit water eftlueM m 70 rt[illigtarns of p>,ti- times per liter of warn Compliattee with this requirement failed through the wmkend, when particv- lares [cached levels of 85 ro 95 mg/L ' By early Tuesday, Jan 28., particulate levels had dropped within kgat litai[v. To fiatha minimize ppnppppr West. E0c eagr- neets ppped into the leak ,as close to the solace as pttssibk. eliminatittg-most of the oonpmmation from the mine 0ooc Thaz dropped pariculate to under 20 tng/l._ This direct disvtatge erontiaoed for 9 days. some gtneoish appearantt and sub fitr odor was oaasionally apparem, bur Weh says the serration of ttie spuIlway removes dissolved gasst:s. Water at the rive seems to be clean and odor free. . OtSctals 1130 'mm ~i~r"ly' ~~~ Oxbow Carbon sad Minerals. which sup- pties drinking warn for wotlcets in their own plant and for Sem•~--r residents. The Arco discharge point is jtut upstrsam of dx Oxbow inpke valuer. Asondiog to •Tom Anderson. environmenpl coordina- tor for Oxbow, [heir water ptttifiation .systems handled the ittcreated parocdatei and wa[a quality was sot compromised. By Jan. 31, the'spill had dropped ro coda 1,700 gallons per minute, or 3.3 orbit feet pa sernnd. Tempetanua were mrapmed az 88' F u the source, but cooled to under 6S whale ',t entered the river. • Virith the North Four taming at close to 350 efs and 33', mine offidals were not able to identify measurable impacts. Temperature readings taken 100 fee[ • above and below the spillway show no differentt in water tempetativa Aquatic lifer surveys ace still being aaalyral, but • ~ preliminary biologic testing on atthropodc std fat head rtiimows shows no apparent toxicity. More rasa ate expecud, ffitd a ' geothcmtd watts expert has taken saris= pies of the water. They suspeu the antra was a vertical fault full'of attaeat wear. On Feb. 7 the flow dropped to under 800 gallons per minute, and flows were again directed ism the seNiag .ponds.' ' Althoagh oot a disaster. the experience was a bit of a shock for mine stat£ No hint of the water. was fond in .the explorazory drilling: the mine had no way. of lmowing it was there. The mine condn- ues mex~ract tonnage from the long wall at a record tea, and no changes are expected is exploration. ' -TaraMilkr 3