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Empire Mine State Historic Park unveiled a major plan Wednesday to clean up the mine’s toxic waste legacy.
“We’re going to conduct an environmental investigation and an environmental cleanup at the park,” said Bill Lyle of Newmont Mining Company. The firm is tied to final ownership of the facility, once the world’s largest and most productive hardrock gold mine, which closed in 1956.
Known contamination sites for dangerous levels of arsenic, lead, mercury and cyanide will be fenced off, and the park’s 12 miles of trails will be tested for toxic materials. The Magenta Drain, created to get rid of the water in the mine’s 367 miles of shafts, will be fenced off and tested for one year for scientific study.
“None of the activities will have an impact on the historic grounds,” said Sherm Worthington, an environmental engineer on the project who has been cleaning up mine-contaminated areas for 20 years.
That means tourist activities and social engagements at the park will not be disrupted, although much of the work is adjacent to the historic area. A large area between the historic grounds and Little Wolf Creek with a lot of past mining and milling waste will simply be fenced off.
Preliminary tests of the Magenta Drain’s water shows levels of arsenic, iron, thallium and manganese that exceed state and federal drinking water standards. Tests will also be performed for sediment contamination downstream.
The fence for the drain opening and the stream it creates right behind homes along Highway 174 has already been fenced off down to the Grass Valley city tennis courts on Race Street.
Public Works Director Jeff Jewett said the city would continue the fence along the drain, which becomes a creek as it flows through Veterans Memorial Park. The city is awaiting materials from the state park and will complete the fence as soon as they arrive in the next few days, Jewett said.
The creek that has high levels of arsenic through the park has been posted and roped off since late January after the levels were deemed dangerous to humans. But concerns persisted because the stream was still open to dogs and children who might not have heeded the ropes.
“We need to close it off to make sure kids don’t get in the sediment,” said Ron Munson, superintendent of the state park.
Also in the work plans for this summer and fall are:
• Final handling of residual pollution at the Red Dirt Pile area, where 46,000 tons of tainted material were removed from 1986 to 1989, the state’s first phase of the cleanup. A parking lot for event spillover and new vegetation are being installed there.
• The Sand Dam area near the mine’s former cyanide plant, which has tailings with unsafe concentrations of mercury, cyanide and arsenic.
• Eight staff residences that will be cleaned for possible toxic dust and materials.
Anyone wanting to see the plan can find it at the Grass Valley Public Library, 207 Mill St., or the state park’s visitors center, 10791 East Empire Street. You can also find it at www.envirostor.dtsc.ca.gov/public/search.asp?basic=true. Type in the Empire Mine State Historic Park site name and the information will come up.
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To contact senior staff writer Dave Moller, e-mail davem@theunion.com or call 477-4237.
“We’re going to conduct an environmental investigation and an environmental cleanup at the park,” said Bill Lyle of Newmont Mining Company. The firm is tied to final ownership of the facility, once the world’s largest and most productive hardrock gold mine, which closed in 1956.
Known contamination sites for dangerous levels of arsenic, lead, mercury and cyanide will be fenced off, and the park’s 12 miles of trails will be tested for toxic materials. The Magenta Drain, created to get rid of the water in the mine’s 367 miles of shafts, will be fenced off and tested for one year for scientific study.
“None of the activities will have an impact on the historic grounds,” said Sherm Worthington, an environmental engineer on the project who has been cleaning up mine-contaminated areas for 20 years.
That means tourist activities and social engagements at the park will not be disrupted, although much of the work is adjacent to the historic area. A large area between the historic grounds and Little Wolf Creek with a lot of past mining and milling waste will simply be fenced off.
Preliminary tests of the Magenta Drain’s water shows levels of arsenic, iron, thallium and manganese that exceed state and federal drinking water standards. Tests will also be performed for sediment contamination downstream.
The fence for the drain opening and the stream it creates right behind homes along Highway 174 has already been fenced off down to the Grass Valley city tennis courts on Race Street.
Public Works Director Jeff Jewett said the city would continue the fence along the drain, which becomes a creek as it flows through Veterans Memorial Park. The city is awaiting materials from the state park and will complete the fence as soon as they arrive in the next few days, Jewett said.
The creek that has high levels of arsenic through the park has been posted and roped off since late January after the levels were deemed dangerous to humans. But concerns persisted because the stream was still open to dogs and children who might not have heeded the ropes.
“We need to close it off to make sure kids don’t get in the sediment,” said Ron Munson, superintendent of the state park.
Also in the work plans for this summer and fall are:
• Final handling of residual pollution at the Red Dirt Pile area, where 46,000 tons of tainted material were removed from 1986 to 1989, the state’s first phase of the cleanup. A parking lot for event spillover and new vegetation are being installed there.
• The Sand Dam area near the mine’s former cyanide plant, which has tailings with unsafe concentrations of mercury, cyanide and arsenic.
• Eight staff residences that will be cleaned for possible toxic dust and materials.
Anyone wanting to see the plan can find it at the Grass Valley Public Library, 207 Mill St., or the state park’s visitors center, 10791 East Empire Street. You can also find it at www.envirostor.dtsc.ca.gov/public/search.asp?basic=true. Type in the Empire Mine State Historic Park site name and the information will come up.
ooo
To contact senior staff writer Dave Moller, e-mail davem@theunion.com or call 477-4237.
