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<br />' 4 WEEKEND. JUNE 2&29. 1094 ~ COLORADO DAILY 999
<br />STbTE
<br />State back;s keeping
<br />
<br />leaching mine open
<br />By CHR19 WOLF method, would 6e ir,:nmaieal. During the last gold rash,
<br />tarsram o+6 stag wu> mines dug Into mouDmiosides where They Thought they
<br />A sbteofthe-W gold mine in xuthem Colorado got might find gold. When they did, They crtied out Dearly
<br />epprorel Wednesday to mndnue ib cywide iexhing open- pore Daggers. GcttiDg to Nox veu:- maser exlnmiDg huge
<br />anion, despite exceeding ib permitted level of eceumulat• , emaunb of ore, which likely mnbincd mlDUte qu: .-,
<br />ed ryanide by 4,600 per¢nl. of gold, too.
<br />The mine, whith is near the town •~f San Luis, is open- That's the gold the cyanide Icaching technoin~
<br />sled by the Battle Maunbin Gold Co. There's no evidence ma4es ac¢ssible. lh< portals can extnm gall in animals
<br />chat ryanide has leaked [mm the halc:ng ponds where the az low as 0.008 part per mil0on, Pendleton said. "It's
<br />excessive levels were daeaed, but mine opponwts say it eRegively non<aisteDt "
<br />should be shut down, because it doesn't wort Peadletm said between the declining pri¢ of gold and
<br />"It's a disaster wailing to happen; said Roger Flynn, the huge meta in espial investmrnt, and ocasiona0y in
<br />an anomey wish Boulder's Land end Water Fund o[ the federal and stale fetes, cyanide Icaching may prove ro he
<br />Rackia. Flynn is reprexnting one of three San Wu par- disappoiDliog to some who saw it at a hone 10 years age,
<br />lies who oppose the minds ibrerim permit.
<br />Although the mint opentota aDd the State Mined Irrrd when gol'fMi`•'st ,about SS00 m ouo¢. Toda 1, it's nhnnl
<br />~ 3240 ~ "y V
<br />Reclamation Board agree than the technology u planned Flynn said the West is in the midst of a Dew geld rush
<br />has Gr7eQ They say it's important to keep We mine open- There arc 2] rywide leaching gold mines in Colorcdo.
<br />aging while it climbs beck into mmplierxe. The worst accident associated with a cyanide leaching
<br />According to lira Pendleton teehnital and scientific openrton, Flym said, happened al the Sumniirvi0e Mine
<br />'
<br />eoordimtm far the Stale Mined Land Redameuon iD Colorado
<br />s Sw luaD Atountaim, when s holding pond
<br />Division, to shut dowD the 1&moorhold mine would be leaked wd destroyed about 15 miles o[ the Alamosa River.
<br />costly, and even counrerproduttive, to clewup goals. At the Bartle Mombin mine site there an: 1.5 million
<br />"If you shut down the system, everything become sbg- tool of milled bilings lining in Icaching ponds. Beouse
<br />ever. 11 slops tirmlating; Pendlam said. "And those WI- Ue fu0y operating mine produces about 5,00[1 tons more
<br />ings - char ere ell Slimy mud -will sbrt to consolidate." each day, Pendletm said shutting down the mine would
<br />On¢ Thal happens, he said, it's border to cbemitally Dm have prevented a significant additional am wet of min-
<br />rcmove the ryanide. Additiomlly, PendlrAOn said, the mine 1°g• mil0ng end ryanide leaching [mm taking place.
<br />"
<br />'
<br />employe 110 peopk, which means 110 families, wd "in t wwt
<br />"Five thousand tons is a Ira,
<br />he said, "1 w auidn
<br />case something happens," 110 people m help aver disss- it in my living room. But compered ro one-arol-a-half mil-
<br />'
<br />"
<br />ler GoD tom, it
<br />s a sme0 pile more.
<br />PwdlctoD said the scrip
<br />Cyanide leecitin~is ^ process by which small quwti- of mmDlim¢ benrJmsrka imposed by Wednesday's ml- ~
<br />tie o[ gold tan be extmmed from me 1haL by my ether tog shoud gu the mine in mmpliavice by Oc~. 15.
<br />In 1990, We mina: waz issued ^ permit by the Sbte
<br /> Mined Land ReclematioD Board limiting ib tr•W accumu-
<br /> lated rywide levels in the holding pond to a.4 poor per
<br /> -mIDioa Ice May ihrbtwo-fihcd Basle MwdteiD iiiu,uw
<br /> beaux ryanide levels had rcarLed 7311 ppd. Since We
<br /> May 5Dq ryeside IereLs have hew brobght dcwn b abom
<br /> g0 ppm
<br />__ _.,__ _. _._..__.._-~sss`7raddiHDn Do•i6e 8De, BaNe Mwotain Gold Vice
<br /> Prgidem Andre Douchme said his mmpwy speDl about
<br /> trove m rAOa cal
<br />WEEIO=ND, JUNE 2&29, 1992
<br />_ ST,
<br />...sty :~ allows mine to stay open
<br />IrrKar iAO[ 9
<br />5200.000 iD initial apiW investment and nave will spend
<br />about 31.6 million more to replete iL "We 6aught a tech-
<br />Dolagy, wd it didn't work" Douehwe xid. "Rut the Dew
<br />teehDOlogy has b¢a proven to work in J4 sites around the
<br />world."
<br />H the levels don't rexh 50 ppm by Thursday, 33 ppm
<br />by logy 22, and 1.4 ppm by Ocmber 13, Pendleton said,
<br />"We're going to rum it oH."
<br />"We're doing this jmt az quirJcly az we coq" said
<br />Douchme.
<br />But Flym, who repraenb Sw Luis ruidwb who 0ve
<br />dowosueam of eke mine, and who he said are eared, asked,
<br />"What's a pemil fool" While the state farad Bartle
<br />COLARADO DAILY
<br />ATE
<br />Momuin out of camplian¢ io May, Flym said his clieou
<br />thiDlc the mine has bew nonaumpliwt "sine: day me."
<br />"Il waz a major disappoiDmlent to the citizens' groups
<br />who arc is danger from the rymidr," he said. "ILese peo-
<br />pie have bew told, 'Trust us; bust our teetaology,' but
<br />they've already vested, and they lost"
<br />Flym said a diBereD[ coining company operating on the
<br />same sire po0uted total gromdwater with e•anide in the
<br />1970s. "And it mold be too late," Flym said, referting ro
<br />the Wednesday mODg's provisim that gnome water mon-
<br />ilming systems immed'utely be upgraded.
<br />"These arc fear of people who are star ~," he xid.
<br />"We eked the board to protee[ the cilium from this threat
<br />and it just wssD't done."
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