The Eagle Mine is an abandoned mine near the abandoned town of
Gilman and about one mile south east of
Minturn in the U.S. state of Colorado.
The mining began in the 1880s, initially for gold and silver but predominantly zinc during later stages of its operation. The mine closed in 1984 and became an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Superfund
Superfund is a United States federal environmental remediation program established by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). The program is administered by the United States Environmental Pro ...
site.
After the closure of the mine and the abandonment of Gilman, a area, which included 8 million tons of mine waste, were designated a
Superfund
Superfund is a United States federal environmental remediation program established by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). The program is administered by the United States Environmental Pro ...
site by the EPA and placed on the National Priorities List in 1986. The mine had been owned by the
New Jersey Zinc Company
New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created.
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
Albums and EPs
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...
, in its later years a subsidiary of
Gulf+Western
Gulf and Western Industries, Inc. (stylized as Gulf+Western) was an American conglomerate. Originally, the company focused on manufacturing and resource extraction. Beginning in 1966, and continuing throughout the 1960s and 1970s, the company ...
.
Viacom International
Paramount Global Distribution Group or Paramount Global Content Distribution is the international television distribution arm of American media conglomerate, Paramount Global, originally established in 1962 as the international distribution divis ...
was identified by the EPA as the successor in interest to the mine.
According to the EPA, the mining operations left large amounts of
arsenic
Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As and atomic number 33. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in combination with sulfur and metals, but also as a pure elemental crystal. Arsenic is a metalloid. It has various allotropes, but ...
,
cadmium
Cadmium is a chemical element with the symbol Cd and atomic number 48. This soft, silvery-white metal is chemically similar to the two other stable metals in group 12, zinc and mercury. Like zinc, it demonstrates oxidation state +2 in most of ...
,
copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...
, lead, and zinc in the soil, and led to large
fish kill
The term fish kill, known also as fish die-off, refers to a localized die-off of fish populations which may also be associated with more generalized mortality of aquatic life.University of Florida. Gainesville, FL (2005) ''Plant Management in Fl ...
s in the Eagle River and threatened drinking water in the town of Minturn downstream on the
Eagle River. The clean-up plan, implemented beginning in 1988 included plugging and flooding the Eagle Mine, collecting and treating mine and ground water in a new treatment plant, as well as removing, treating and capping the mine waste products. A report by the EPA in 2000 concluded that clean-up operations had substantially reduced public health risks and improved the water quality in the Eagle River. The State of Colorado also has pursued separate parallel efforts at cleanup and has reached agreements with Viacom regarding treatment of the site.
See also
*
List of Superfund sites in Colorado
This is a list of Superfund sites in Colorado designated under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) environmental law. The CERCLA federal law of 1980 authorized the United States Environmental Protecti ...
*
Mining in the United States
Mining in the United States has been active since the beginning of colonial times, but became a major industry in the 19th century with a number of new mineral discoveries causing a series of mining rushes. In 2015, the value of coal, metals, and i ...
References
{{Reflist
External links
EPA Report 1998 ROD/R08-98/079- includes mine history.
Superfund sites in Colorado
Mines in Colorado
Geography of Eagle County, Colorado
Zinc mines in the United States