Site Characterization

• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
• Colorado Department of Natural Resources
• Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
• Colorado Department of Agriculture
• Colorado State University and CSU Cooperative Extension
• Colorado School of Mines
• Auburn University
• Environmental Chemical Corp.

• Water Treatment
• Backfilling, Capping, and Plugging of Mine Workings

• Cyanide
• Metals

The Summitville gold mine in the San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado was the focus of extensive public attention in 1992 and 1993 due to environmental problems stemming from open-pit mining. Summitville catalyzed national debates about the environmental effects of modern mining, and became the focus of arguments for proposed revisions to the 1872 Mining Law governing mining on public lands. In early 1993, USGS scientists and their partners began a multidisciplinary investigation to provide needed scientific information on Summitville's environmental problems and downstream environmental effects. The Summitville investigation shows how geologic and geochemical information can be used in future mining operations to more effectively anticipate and mitigate potential environmental effects of mining for metals.

• Summitville Mine and its Downstream Effects
• Summitville Mine Superfund Site, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 8
• Summitville Mine Site Summary, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
• Reactive-transport modeling, Summitville Mine, CO
• Synoptic Study of Wightman Fork
• Aerial View of Summitville Mine Site

Plumlee, G. S., and Edelmann, P., 1995,

The Summitville Mine and its Downstream Effects: U.S. Geological Survey, An ON-LINE UPDATE of Open-File Report 95-23.

 

USGS Acid Mine Drainage Remediation Projects

• USGS Abandoned Mine Lands Initiative
• Acidic Plume Remediation Monitoring, Pinal Creek, AZ
• Evaluating How Downstream Tailings Deposits Impact the Effectiveness of Remediation Plans, Upper Arkansas River, Colorado
• Lake Coeur d'Alene Remediation Assessment
• Summitville Mine and its Downstream Effects
• Bear-Yuba Watersheds Interagency Abandoned Mine Lands Project, Bear-Yuba Watersheds, California
• Effects of Nutrients on the Formation of Acidic Mine Drainage
• Remediating Some of the World's Most Acidic Waters at the Iron Mountain Superfund Site--A Tough Challenge for Scientists
• Restoration of Stream Water Degraded by Acid Mine Drainage, Toby Creek Mine Drainage Treatment Plant, Elk County, Pennsylvania
• Swatara Creek Basin, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania
  • Evaluation of Limestone Treatment of Acidic Mine Drainage
  • Limestone Drains to Increase pH and Remove Dissolved Metals from an Acidic Coal-Mine Discharge