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Science for Watershed Decisions on Abandoned Mine Lands: Review of Preliminary Results, Denver, Colorado, February 4-5, 1998

An Overview of the U.S. Geological Survey Mine Waste Characterization Project

By Kathleen S. Smith,¹ James G. Crock,² G.A. Desborough,³ David V. Fitterman,⁴ Reinhard W. Leinz,⁵ Maria R. Montour,⁶ Mark R. Stanton,⁷ Gregg A. Swayze,⁸ and Robert B. Vaughn⁹

The Mine Waste Characterization Project (MWCP) of the U.S. Geological Survey Mineral Resources Program is collaborating with the Abandoned Mine Land Initiative work in the upper Animas River watershed, Colorado. We are conducting detailed studies at two abandoned mine waste dumps along Cement Creek, upstream from Silverton, Colorado. One dump, the May Day, is overseen by the Bureau of Land Management and the other dump, the Yukon, is privately owned. Our work ties into the watershed approach being used in the upper Animas River watershed by defining processes that mobilize metals from mine-waste dumps.

Release of dissolved metals, acidity, and suspended particulates from solid mine waste to receiving waters is a potentially serious and long-lasting environmental problem. Metal release and acid production depend on the mineralogical, chemical, and physical characteristics of the mine waste as well as geochemical and microbial processes. We use an integrated approach to mine-waste dumps and mill tailings. We combine bulk chemical, physical, and mineralogical characterization with geochemical leaching and weathering studies, microbiological studies, geophysical studies, toxicological studies, and geochemical modeling to determine processes controlling generation, release, and toxic effects of effluent from abandoned mine-waste material. We are integrating these data with imaging-spectroscopy data to refine remote-sensing techniques for locating and prioritizing mine-waste sites. Field and laboratory geophysical measurements are being used to determine the extent of the waste and to characterize the waste material at depth to complement the imaging-spectroscopy and geochemical analyses of surficial material. A remediation approach using zeolite granules to mitigate mine-waste runoff is being evaluated and field tested.

The MWCP is an interdisciplinary project with the goal of developing methods and tools for solid mine-waste site characterization. Researchers from a variety of disciplines, including geochemistry, geophysics, analytical chemistry, geology, and geomicrobiology, work together at selected mine-waste sites to evaluate the usefulness of diverse approaches and characterization methods. We also aim to understand processes that control the environmental impact of solid mine-waste systems. An integrated "tool kit" for the characterization and evaluation of abandoned solid mine-waste sites is an objective of this project.

¹U.S. Geological Survey, MS 973, P.O. Box 25046, Denver Federal Center, Denver, CO 80225 (ksmith@usgs.gov)

²U.S. Geological Survey, MS 973, P.O. Box 25046, Denver Federal Center, Denver, CO 80225 (jcrock@usgs.gov)

³U.S. Geological Survey, MS 905, P.O. Box 25046, Denver Federal Center, Denver, CO 80225 (gdesboro@usgs.gov)

⁴U.S. Geological Survey, MS 964, P.O. Box 25046, Denver Federal Center, Denver, CO 80225 (fitter@usgs.gov)

⁵U.S. Geological Survey, MS 973, P.O. Box 25046, Denver Federal Center, Denver, CO 80225 (rleinz@usgs.gov)

⁶U.S. Geological Survey, MS 973, P.O. Box 25046, Denver Federal Center, Denver, CO 80225 (mmontour@usgs.gov)

⁷U.S. Geological Survey, MS 973, P.O. Box 25046, Denver Federal Center, Denver, CO 80225 (mstanton@usgs.gov)

⁸U.S. Geological Survey, MS 964, P.O. Box 25046, Denver Federal Center, Denver, CO 80225 (gswayze@usgs.gov)

⁹U.S. Geological Survey, MS 973, P.O. Box 25046, Denver Federal Center, Denver, CO 80225

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