EPA CONTRACTORS & THE GOLD KING MINE : WHOOPS!!!!!!

[ghostminer]

Plugged mine blows out while being worked on by EPA contractors. Watch out for these old mines!!

 

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[Capt Nemo]

That looks like a LOT more than 3 million gallons!

The watertower on the shuttle launchpad is a million and it's tiny. I'd say the spill is closer to 15-20 million or more. The video stopped rolling before it got to it's worst, and started rolling again after it had passed.

 

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[KevinInColorado]

I went up to see this area last summer. Cement Creek downstream of the spill is entirely bright orange. A tiny bit of -150 gold but not much. The Animas River from where Cement Creek dumps into it....looks just fine.

 

[Clay Diggins]

I went up to see this area last summer. Cement Creek downstream of the spill is entirely bright orange. A tiny bit of -150 gold but not much. The Animas River from where Cement Creek dumps into it....looks just fine.

Cement creek has never had native fish in it historically Kevin. The acid drainage from the mineralization there existed long before there was any mining. It was noted by the first European explorers to visit the area. Ever wonder why it was called Cement creek? Just the natural conditions of highly mineralized deposits leading to high acid water with a mineral load. There are many examples of creeks like this all over the west even when the area has not been mined.

In most lower areas of the desert southwest we have alkali water, often with heavy mineral loads. People refer to this as "hard" water but there is a lot more involved than just some calcium and magnesium suspended in the water. Arsenic is very common and there are locally several different "interesting" metals and salts in solution depending on where you go. Acid water in itself is not a bad thing and hard water in itself has little to no effect on health. It's the exact mineral content in hard water that may be detrimental to health. Arsenic in the water supply can be a bad thing but often other minerals present will "lock up" Arsenic and other heavy metals so they have no effect on human health. It's not a simple matter of acid, hard water or a particular metal being dangerous to health as the EPA would like you to believe.

In the Western states high or low pH water is common. Almost all water is high in mineral content. Much of the groundwater in the west is of very poor quality compared to waters in the Eastern U.S. This has created a lot of assumptions that mining is to blame but the fact is good low mineral content neutral pH water is extremely rare in the Western states whether there has been mining or not. Acidic mineral laden water was the natural state in many areas long before men or mining became a factor.

There was an extensive multi year study of the water in mineralized zones conducted in Canada not many years ago. The intent of the study was to establish baselines for the before/after mining acidity of local water supplies. Obviously this was an attempt to gain ammunition to stop certain types of mining. The surprising results (to the research scientists) was that there was frequently little pH difference in the water between mined and unmined highly mineralized zones. At first there were efforts to prevent publication of the results until the, now enlightened, scientists pointed out that they had uncovered a sophisticated method of determining where and what type of mineral deposit might be involved. It's easier to track the movement of water through the earth than it is to track unexposed mineral deposits.

A simple fact is that wherever there is exposed or near surface mineralization there will be water with dissolved minerals. Look at a map of Laramide Orogony deposits and look at a map of naturally low pH (acidic) waters. There is a one on one correlation. The Laramide Orogony concentrated a lot of sulfur in the upper surface levels, as volcanic activity nearly always does. It also created most of the mineral wealth of the United States.

Acid water and sulfur is the combination that causes problems. When the sulfur compounds like pyrites are broken down by their interaction with oxygen and acidic water the pH of the water is lowered even further. This creates a cycle where the constantly more acidic water acts on the available sulfur until there is no more available sulfur. At that point the acid level moves back to the natural pH of the local waters.

When the EPA blocked the Gold Kings drainage they were blocking the highest and the last of the extensive tunnel system from the dozens of mines there. These tunnels had been interconnected through the cooperation of the mining companies to prevent flooding of the mining works. Ultimately there was only one major water outlet at the head of Concrete Creek - American Tunnel, the low spot. A large limestone bed was installed at the outlet and the water was reduced in acidity to the approved local pH. The water was better than it had historically been and all downstream damage was prevented at the source. Fixed right? Good mining practice and cooperation between the mines dealt with the problems created by their mining.

Now knowing all that the worst thing you could do in this situation would be to flood those formerly dry mines and expose all those sulfur compounds in the tunnels to higher and higher levels of acid. The only thing dumber than doing that would be to stop treating the main outflow for the low pH. The limestone treatment bed that was working so well was removed. The EPA plugged up the entire system, flooded the mines and shut down several mining operations. When the water filled all the tunnels the EPA unplugged the highest one (more than a thousand feet above the American Tunnel drain) and ran around in circles screaming "the sky is falling" when the predicted and predictable low pH high iron content (red) water ran out.

An interesting recent development is the plan to use the water from those now "abandoned" mines to supplement the municipal water system for Aurora, Colorado on the other side of the Continental Divide. Seems that mining mine water for human consumption is OK but the thought of that same water flowing naturally in the creeks and rivers it's always flowed in is a "disaster".

I smell something rotten and it has nothing to do with acid water or sulfur compounds.

Heavy Pans

 

[barrelroll]

An interesting recent development is the plan to use the water from those now "abandoned" mines to supplement the municipal water system for Aurora, Colorado on the other side of the Continental Divide. Seems that mining mine water for human consumption is OK but the thought of that same water flowing naturally in the creeks and rivers it's always flowed in is a "disaster".

I smell something rotten and it has nothing to do with acid water or sulfur compounds.

Heavy Pans

It's nothing new, read in between the lines here. https://www.cityofgolden.net/government/departments-divisions/water/water-supply/

 

[KevinInColorado]

Cement creek has never had native fish in it historically Kevin. The acid drainage from the mineralization there existed long before there was any mining. It was noted by the first European explorers to visit the area. Ever wonder why it was called Cement creek? Just the natural conditions of highly mineralized deposits leading to high acid water with a mineral load. There are many examples of creeks like this all over the west even when the area has not been mined.

In most lower areas of the desert southwest we have alkali water, often with heavy mineral loads. People refer to this as "hard" water but there is a lot more involved than just some calcium and magnesium suspended in the water. Arsenic is very common and there are locally several different "interesting" metals and salts in solution depending on where you go. Acid water in itself is not a bad thing and hard water in itself has little to no effect on health. It's the exact mineral content in hard water that may be detrimental to health. Arsenic in the water supply can be a bad thing but often other minerals present will "lock up" Arsenic and other heavy metals so they have no effect on human health. It's not a simple matter of acid, hard water or a particular metal being dangerous to health as the EPA would like you to believe.

In the Western states high or low pH water is common. Almost all water is high in mineral content. Much of the groundwater in the west is of very poor quality compared to waters in the Eastern U.S. This has created a lot of assumptions that mining is to blame but the fact is good low mineral content neutral pH water is extremely rare in the Western states whether there has been mining or not. Acidic mineral laden water was the natural state in many areas long before men or mining became a factor.

There was an extensive multi year study of the water in mineralized zones conducted in Canada not many years ago. The intent of the study was to establish baselines for the before/after mining acidity of local water supplies. Obviously this was an attempt to gain ammunition to stop certain types of mining. The surprising results (to the research scientists) was that there was frequently little pH difference in the water between mined and unmined highly mineralized zones. At first there were efforts to prevent publication of the results until the, now enlightened, scientists pointed out that they had uncovered a sophisticated method of determining where and what type of mineral deposit might be involved. It's easier to track the movement of water through the earth than it is to track unexposed mineral deposits.

A simple fact is that wherever there is exposed or near surface mineralization there will be water with dissolved minerals. Look at a map of Laramide Orogony deposits and look at a map of naturally low pH (acidic) waters. There is a one on one correlation. The Laramide Orogony concentrated a lot of sulfur in the upper surface levels, as volcanic activity nearly always does. It also created most of the mineral wealth of the United States.

Acid water and sulfur is the combination that causes problems. When the sulfur compounds like pyrites are broken down by their interaction with oxygen and acidic water the pH of the water is lowered even further. This creates a cycle where the constantly more acidic water acts on the available sulfur until there is no more available sulfur. At that point the acid level moves back to the natural pH of the local waters.

When the EPA blocked the Gold Kings drainage they were blocking the highest and the last of the extensive tunnel system from the dozens of mines there. These tunnels had been interconnected through the cooperation of the mining companies to prevent flooding of the mining works. Ultimately there was only one major water outlet at the head of Concrete Creek - American Tunnel, the low spot. A large limestone bed was installed at the outlet and the water was reduced in acidity to the approved local pH. The water was better than it had historically been and all downstream damage was prevented at the source. Fixed right? Good mining practice and cooperation between the mines dealt with the problems created by their mining.

Now knowing all that the worst thing you could do in this situation would be to flood those formerly dry mines and expose all those sulfur compounds in the tunnels to higher and higher levels of acid. The only thing dumber than doing that would be to stop treating the main outflow for the low pH. The limestone treatment bed that was working so well was removed. The EPA plugged up the entire system, flooded the mines and shut down several mining operations. When the water filled all the tunnels the EPA unplugged the highest one (more than a thousand feet above the American Tunnel drain) and ran around in circles screaming "the sky is falling" when the predicted and predictable low pH high iron content (red) water ran out.

An interesting recent development is the plan to use the water from those now "abandoned" mines to supplement the municipal water system for Aurora, Colorado on the other side of the Continental Divide. Seems that mining mine water for human consumption is OK but the thought of that same water flowing naturally in the creeks and rivers it's always flowed in is a "disaster".

I smell something rotten and it has nothing to do with acid water or sulfur compounds.

Heavy Pans

Yup.

 

[Peyton Manning]

I wonder what the EPA felt needed to be bleeped out...sure wasnt cussing (although they should have been). Did anyone end up getting held responsible for this or has everyone involved in this debacle managed to escape any sort of consequences?

held responsible government workers hahahahahahhahaha

 

[Peyton Manning]

epilogue: who named it the gold king mine? idiot

if I ever find a gold mine it'll be called " Abundant asbestos carcinogen mine"

 

[KevinInColorado]

epilogue: who named it the gold king mine? idiot

if I ever find a gold mine it'll be called " Abundant asbestos carcinogen mine"

Someone who was trying to convince people to invest in their mine.

 

[Bonaro]

Someone who was trying to convince people to invest in their mine.

https://www.denverite.com/look-gold-king-mine-history-environment-12776/