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Atronics/Uncle Sam Milllsite
October 1999
October
1999
Nye
Nevada
38° N
116° W (Approximately) |
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| Atronics Millsite outside Toponah, Nevada |
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55 miles northeast of Tonopah, Nevada in the Hot Creek watershed.
Estimated cost of remediation was $40,000, and the actual final cost was $26,200.
In 1999, the newly created Nevada Interagency Minelands Remediation Task force resulted in the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding for Abandoned Mined Lands remediation and reclamation activities in Nevada. Signatories include: the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the Nevada Division of Minerals, the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Nevada Division of Wildlife, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Bureau of Mines and Geology, and the Desert Research Institute. In addition to implementing a statewide collaborative plan for the future, BLM remediated two AML millsites located in priority watersheds during 1999.
This site was chosen because of ongoing problems with animal mortality in the cyanide process ponds. This was one of the first two abandoned mined land sites remediated for protection of priority watersheds identified in the Nevada Unified Watershed Assessment and Restoration Priorities. Nevada has 31 other priority sites for remediation, pending the availability of funding.
The site was developed as a test facility to attract investors in 1987. BLM and the state were not informed of it, and no permits were requested. The operation was shortlived, due in part to lack of ore value. It was subsequently discovered accidentally by the BLM, who obtained a sketchy Plan of Operation. A Notice of Noncompliance was issued in 1987. Dead animals were noted in the process ponds beginning in 1988 and often thereafter. A Record of Noncompliance was issued in 1992. During the 1990s Round Mountain Gold Corporation donated pond netting materials to halt the bird, reptile, and mammal mortality in the ponds. These were installed by a BLM volunteer crew from the Tonopah Field Station.
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| Reclamation activities |
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| Wildlife mortality |
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Cleanup began in mid October of 1999, and was completed in six 12 hour work days.
Cleanup activities included:
- Testing of pond contents
- Detoxification and removal of process components including pond solution and sludge
- Regrading and capping of the heap with clay and growth medium
- Removal of fencing
- Removal of trash, including a tractor trailer
- Removal and disposal of hazardous chemicals
- Regrading of the site
- Reseeding of the site with the broadcast seeding of five native, wildlife friendly species
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| Reclamation activities |
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| Millsite after reclamation |
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Remediation activities included:
- Opening and regrading impoundments in the drainage
- Removal of abandoned equipment �
- Reclamation of the three solution ponds after removing sediment and liner and backfilling them
- Removal of two underground tanks and sampling of contents for disposal
- Recontouring the two leach heaps
- Removal of 89 cubic yards of onsite trash
- Preparing the site for revegetation
- Reseeding the site with native shrub, grass, and wildflower species
- Plugging the well
Yes
There were several unexpected complications. Three drums of cyanide found in the locked semitrailer onsite were transported by the contractor to a mine on the Carlin trend, where their productive use saved a $1,600 hazmat disposal fee. The original plan to fold the liner over to encapsulate the sludge -- a common reclamation technique -- was frustrated by old, brittle seams that broke when heavy equipment was used to pull the liner free of its dirt skirting. The liner was then handcut all the way around the ponds with razor knives. The hydrogen peroxide used to neutralize the cyanide solution in the ponds was difficult to mix with the sludge accumulated there. A metal and chain drag was improvised on site to facilitate mixing.
Briefing Points for the Abandoned Mine Land (AML) Program [64 kb PDF Document]
Efficient Permanent Closures of Abandoned Mine Safety Hazards on BLM Managed Lands [104 kb PDF Document]
Chris Ross, PhD
BLM NV 920
PO Box 12000
Reno, NV 89520-0006
(775) 861-6571
c1ross@nv.blm.gov
Chris Ross, PhD
August 2004
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