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For the week of July 2 - 8, 2003

News

Hecla takes first
step in Grouse Creek reclamation


By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer

As the first tangible step in a mine site reclamation process near Stanley, officials at Hecla Mining Co.’s Grouse Creek Mine in late-May began draining a massive tailings pond and discharging the heavy metal-laden effluent into the Yankee Fork of the Salmon River

Complete draining of the 450 million gallon, 80-acre tailings impoundment is projected to take more than three years.

"We’re very happy that we’ve been able to begin the dewatering process after a very thorough investigation into all the alternatives," said Vicki Veltkamp, vice president of Hecla’s investor and public relations department. "We’re glad we’re able to actually move forward now and actually begin the process, and it’s going very well."

However, the environmental community remains unsatisfied, asserting that the tailing pond’s effluent should be treated before being discharged in the Yankee Fork.

"We think this is the wrong approach to be using, and we oppose them doing it," said Justin Hayes with the Idaho Conservation League. "I think they absolutely need to be cleaning it up before they release it into the river."

The project began May 27, and since June 1, approximately 1.9 cubic feet of effluent per second have been discharged into the Yankee Fork, a tributary of the Salmon River and habitat for spawning chinook salmon, a threatened species. As high water recedes, so will the mine’s discharge, said Dean Morgan, U.S. Forest Service on-scene coordinator.

Draining of the now defunct Grouse Creek gold mine’s tailings impoundment was authorized on May 21, when Intermountain Regional Forester Jack Troyer signed a "removal action memorandum," which is a blueprint for regulating the process. However, endangered species consultation with the National Marine Fisheries Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has not been completed, Morgan said.

According to the memorandum, the tailings impoundment waters meet drinking quality standards but do not meet the more stringent standards designed to safeguard aquatic life. For that reason, the discharge into the Yankee Fork is conducted using a diffuser, which spreads the discharge over a large area, and in a downstream mixing zone, Morgan said.

Hayes said use of mixing zones is a long-standing point of contention among environmentalists.

"Sacrificing the water quality even in a section of the river is inappropriate," Hayes said. "We just can’t support it."

Mining activist Tom Blanchard is at the forefront of the Grouse Creek issue and said in an earlier interview that the release of untreated water would be unacceptable.

"The alternative is to get it to (higher) water quality standards before they get it into the stream," he said, calling the Yankee Fork and Salmon River "an already tortured environment."

"How many times do we have to lose again and again?" Blanchard asked. "We’re spending millions to clear the way for salmon to recover, but we’re doing this kind of thing. We can make this water clean. It’s just a matter of money."

The liquid effluent in the impoundment contains traces of cyanide, ammonia, selenium, mercury, cadmium, copper, lead, silver and zinc, as well as 4.4 million tons of solid mining tailings. By June 21, the water in the tailings impoundment was down 29.9 million gallons, Morgan said.

This spring’s decision, however, is only the most recent chapter in an ongoing saga, which began at the mine’s 1995 dedication.

At the dedication, then Rep. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, applauded the mine’s developers for their care of the area’s natural setting, according to a Hecla press release dated Aug. 16 of the same year.

The Grouse Creek mine arrived in the limelight in 1999 when Coeur d’Alene-based Hecla reported high cyanide levels in Jordan Creek, downstream from the now-closed gold mine, to the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality.

Shortly after reporting the contamination, Hecla set up a system of pumps and wells to recirculate cyanide-contaminated springs and seeps back into the mine’s holding pond.

Once the pumps were turned on, cyanide levels in Jordan Creek nearly vanished, and an evaporation system installed on the tailing pond helped to break cyanide levels in the pond to within drinking quality standards.

Veltkamp said Hecla, which has been in existence for 109 years, is currently operating four mines in Nevada, Venezuela, Idaho and Alaska.

Hecla spent $100 million to build Grouse Creek and has lost, so far, $150 million in operations and cleanup efforts. The company projects that cleanup at Grouse Creek will cost $30 million.

"The environment is still a large concern with us," she said, "which is why we’re working so hard to clean it up."

 

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