This is the Berkeley Pit copper mine, whose tailings make a colorful bowl around the town of
The mine, which contains one of the largest open pits ever dug, was active between the years of 1955 and 1983. When it was no longer profitable, the Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO) shuttered its doors and turned off the pumps. Millions of gallons of water flooded into the pit, dragging with them all of the metals from the surrounding soil. With time, the water has become as acidic as vinegar and developed a mineral content so high that several companies have considered mining it.
In 1995 a flock of snow geese landed in the water and all 342 of them turned up dead the next day. Coincidence? ARCO thinks so. They maintain there's no evidence that the geese died because they happened to drink water laced with cadmium. "Perfectly healthy for a growing goose" was their assessment. Others, including the state of
The real trouble will start if the water level reaches 5410 feet, when it will compromise
Today, the mine has a visitors' center and a viewing platform
Personally, I hope the water level stays low.
4 comments:
Strip mining is a crime...to see it to this level is awful. Unfortunately, in the future, it's likely some countries will allow people to mine hydrocarbons this way.
Could you explain a bit more? We just happened on this. I got the impression that the company didn't know what it was doing until the pit started filling. It seemed such a shame because Butte was so nice. To think it's living under the sword of Damocles, so to speak.
South of Ridgecrest, they are actively strip mining in Randsburg as they are in the northwest US. This process involves desecrating entire mountains and stripping them of the minerals of interest. You can see the mountains desecrated in Randsburg quite easily - not too photogenic but no one really cares about Randsburg, CA. This is the currently common practice in mineral mining (gold, silver, coal, whatever). They conduct geophysical surveys (Magnetic, EM, TEM, etc.) to see if the project is viable and then they conduct strip mining operations.
It is actually a viable process...to translate, if we were to strip mine some oil field where our output will never be greater than the 3 percent of the oil in place...one could make millions increasing output by even one percent!
Cheers. I'll be bummed if you don't make it to Banff!
I actually didn't answer your original question. The mining company knows exactly what it's doing.
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