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Climax, county districts work1111111111111111111 reclamationprolect 999 together on , recla By Marc Angelo 5 Daily News Staff Writer ' SUMMIT COUNTY— The first . $ step to reclaiming Climax mine -7 begins with sludge. As it stands,Climax Mine on Fre- u `F mont Pass, scars Bartlett Mountain z G l]J tK i with its P open its and tailings ponds s ti P standing out like a giant billboard s advertising the effects of industrial r a mining. I But through a new program slat- ed to begin as soon as February,the facility might not be such an eyesore " I(;,7'7 &( in the years to come. In an agreement between Climax . • " ��` �� and several Summit County sanita- tion districts,truckloads of bio-solids h —a processed,organic product con- 1° ` a` V taining human waste and just about � k ss^ i�la�l ,�W anything that goes down a kitchen �r,f*F drain—will wind their way toward the mine,located 11,300 feet high on Fremont Pass.It will then be deposit- ed into the 320-acre Robinson Tail- 'u ing Impoundment,reclaiming about 30 to 40 acres each year. By filling the tailings pond with the organic a` " material,which is similar to fertiliz- er or top-soil,Climax hopes to return R �` the area to its natural state. s' ' The reclamation, part of they mine's responsibility under the Mine Land Reclamation Act of 1977,re , x " resents one of the largest projects of its type in national history. The program includes five Sum- NO x mit County bio-solid producers that will-contribute about 1,000 dry tons of bio-solids per year to the project summit Daily/Brad odekirk over the next decade, eventually Climax molybdenum mine,which opened in 1918, was at the transforming the yard now stained d in 1987. It has heart of Colorado's mining history until it close with a series of rust-colored rings operated.sporadically since. Pending the signing of an agree- thatline its perimeter—into a grassy With several Summit County sanitation districts,the mine field. will begin reclamation work on one of its largest tailings ponds "The project should help with this spring. aesthetics,from the highway looking_ west," Climax environmental plan- compost before being sold. The fertilizer.In Summit County,none of ner Brice Romig said: "Climax is county's sanitation districts pay what we produce has gone into a obligated to reclaim,and in order to dumping fees for the service to the landfill cell in the past 20 years.But grow grass here,.we need to have tune of $50,000 annually, and the Summit County has contained with- organic matter. We see one good landfill profits from the sale of the in its county limits the tailings ponds source of that organic matter being compost. of the Climax projects. This project the bio-solids. There hasn't been a Dillon/Silverthorne Joint Author- can improve the ecology, make it a cooperative agreement between five ity chief plant operator Zach Margo- lot prettier aesthetically and bring it separate municipalities and one min- lis estimates the agreement has the back into our ecologic system." ing interest in the past." potential to save the sanitation dis- Phil Hegeman, an environmental The program should benefit all tricts as much as$20,000 a year.But protection specialist for the,Colorado involved,according to Romig,who's that's not the greatest benefit of the Department of Public.Health and overseen its planning for nearly two project,he said. Environment,worked on putting the years. The abundance of bio-solids "In Summit County, we've permits in place for the Climax pro- produced in Summit County is cur- always had beneficial use of the ject. rently carted to the Summit County product," he said. "We've used it at He said a similar method was landfill where it's transformed into several sites for soil amendment and Please see Climax page 9