| Benefits
of the Flambeau Mine
from Minerals
Processing Corporation
906-753-5106
Although mine opponents expressed dire predictions
about the Flambeau Mine, the results tell a different story;
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Water quality, both surface and groundwater, was fully protected.
The water treatment plant produced in excess of 570 million gallons which
exceeded the drinking water purity for the City of Ladysmith.
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Not only was the Flambeau River never polluted, it was actually made cleaner
by the purity of the mine's discharge into the river.
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The mine received no major permit citations or violations over its entire
mining life, and its safety record was outstanding.
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Tourism in the area actually increased with more than 120,000 people visiting
the mine.
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The mine generated nearly $30 million for the local communities, creating
more than 400 additional jobs.
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The mine's pit was completely backfilled and the site returned to approximate
original topography and re-vegetated.
Ultimately, the Flambeau Mine complied with all permit requirements, and
lived up to commitments throughout its operation, protecting the environment,
employee health and safety, and generating community benefits through additional
business opportunities beyond the most optimistic operations.
Facts about the Flambeau Mine
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More than three-fourths of the jobs at the Flambeau Mine were held by local
residents during operation of the mine.
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More than $10 million in state and local taxes paid by the mine have come
back into local communities.
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The Flambeau Mine has paid double net proceed taxes that it originally
estimated. Taxes from the Flambeau Mine helped fund job opportunities
in Rusk County though expansion of some business operations and the creation
of new ones.
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Voluntary contributions from the Flambeau Mine have benefited educational
projects, health care and other worthwhile programs that make Rusk County
communities better places to live.
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The Flambeau Mine made a $500,000 contribution that has helped build the
new Rusk County Community Library. In addition, the $550,000 of Flambeau
Mining Company taxes paid to Ladysmith and Ruck County also went toward
building the Library
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Reclaimed
Flambeau Mine
While there are other examples of uccessfully operated and reclaimed metal
mines in Wisconsin, the Flambeau Mine near Ladysmith in Rusk County is
the only example of a metallic mineral mine that was permitted, constructed,
operated and reclaimed under the State's existing regulatory framework.
The open-pit, copper-gold mine began operations in July 1991, and
reclamation activities were completed by the end of
1999. As specified in the Reclamation Plan and Mining Permit the open-pit
was backfilled. The backfilling process involved blending the stockpiled
waste rock with a prescribed amount of limestone. Limestone, because of
its neutralization capacity, was used to minimize the potential for the
development of acid conditions prior to reflooding. Once reflooded, the
threat of acidification is largely eliminated because, in effect, the concentration
of dissolved oxygen is greatly reduced and not
available to oxidize the waste rock and produce acidity.
Kennecott
responds to trouble on the tracks
February 2, 2004
Question:
Does this letter (re. January 13, 2004 e-mail from Larry Lynch to (name
withheld at request of recipiant)) present things as they really are?
Answer: Mr.
Lynch’s e-mail response answers some of the questions about why the rail
ballast material was removed in the former rail car staging area at the
Flambeau Mine but requires clarification and further discussion on Kennecott
Minerals Company’s (KMC) rationale for removing this material.
During the spring of 2003, KMC agreed with a
request from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation to remove the railroad
crossing (rail and signal lights) on Hwy 27 as part of renovation work
being planned by the WDOT for 2004. Prior to this decision, there was hope
for using the rail crossing and rail spur west of Hwy 27 as part of the
32 acre Industrial Outlot under lease to the Ladysmith City Industrial
Development Corporation and now occupied by the Wisconsin Department of
Natural Resources (WDNR) field office (former mine administration building)
and a local electrical utility company (former water treatment facility).
Once the railroad crossing was removed across the state highway, there
would be no need for the rail spur located west of Hwy 27; therefore, KMC
began planning for the rail spur removal in 2003.
A work plan for material sampling in the west
rail spur area was submitted to the WDNR Mine Reclamation Unit on July
9, 2003 to delineate and characterize the ballast and soil material previously
subjected to ore handling activities (staging of ore cars) prior to rail
shipments. As Mr. Lynch mentioned in his e-mail, both the WDNR and KMC
had already visually noticed residual copper ore fines intermixed with
the ballast/soil material that provided evidence a problem might develop.
The coppers "blooms" mentioned by Mr. Lynch were actually green-colored
copper precipitate coatings on some of the ore fines. It was not known
if these residual ore fines would adversely impact the quality of surface
water runoff from the rail spur area. This is why KMC requested, and the
WDNR approved, the transformation of the existing 0.9-acre synthetically
lined runoff surge pond into a "biofilter", rather than removing it as
part of the reclamation/closure activities. The biofilter was left to collect
and passively treat runoff from the rail spur area and the remaining parking
lot at the former administration building. The purpose of the biofilter
was to polish runoff prior to entering an intermittent storm water tributary
to Meadowbrook Creek, which, in turn flows, to the Flambeau River. The
biofilter was never intended to be a "wildlife refuge" as mistakenly reported
by some.
As part of its continued monitoring activities
in 2002, KMC sampled the 0.9-acre biofilter, as well as other surface water
features on the reclaimed mine site, including Stream C, Meadowbrook Creek
and the Flambeau River. The sample results are attached. Please note that
the units for copper and many other parameters are in ug/l (parts per billion),
not ppm (parts per million) as reported in Mr. Lynch’s e-mail. This represents
three orders of magnitude (1000 times) difference and is important to note.
The wetlands and biofilters were again sampled in May and June of 2003.
These sample results are also attached. Please note that in June 2003,
both the inlet and outlet of the 0.09-acre biofilter were sampled to define
treatment efficiencies for the removal of metals and other parameters.
As can be seen, the biofilter removed 92% of the copper, demonstrating
the effectiveness of treatment within the biofilter.
Even though the biofilter was effectively treating
the surface water runoff from the rail spur and parking lot areas, the
WDNR and KMC desired removal of any known or potential source of copper
contamination that presented the potential for long-term monitoring and
continued evaluation. The "compelling evidence that a problem was developing"
mentioned in Mr. Lynch’s e-mail pertained to having a known source of visually
identified copper pyrite ore fines in the rail ballast and measurable concentrations
of copper in the 0.9-acre biofilter.
After receiving approval from WDNR of its sampling
plan for the west rail spur area, soil samples were collected under the
observation of the WDNR. (See attached photo). It is important to note
that the WDNR requested that only the fine soil particles be sampled and
analyzed to more easily identify the material that would be required to
be removed; therefore, the concentrations of copper and sulfur reported
in Mr. Lynch’s e-mail are likely two or more times greater than the actual
concentrations in the total sand and gravel mass since the coarse fraction
was purposely excluded and the copper and sulfur was associated with the
ore fines.
On October 24, 2003, WDNR approved KMC’s proposal
to remove the contaminated rail ballast material and dispose of it in a
licensed landfill. During mid-October the rail spur line and crossing were
removed. As Mr. Lynch’s e-mail reported, the excavation and haulage of
the ballast material, which amounted to 7400 tons, was completed in November
(11/11/03) and hauled to a nearby solid waste landfill. Erosion control
measures were installed and the application of topsoil and seeding has
been deferred until spring 2004 due to winter weather conditions. Monitoring
of the biofilter and the intermittent stream will continue. The removal
of the rail ballast material is described in detail under section 8 in
the Flambeau Mine’s 2003 Annual Reclamation Report submitted to the WDNR
on November 15, 2003, copies of which were submitted to the City of Ladysmith,
Rusk County and the Town of Grant.
Question: So what do your people (KEX/KMC) think
happened?
Answer: It is evident that some spillage of ore
fines occurred from the ore rail cars and contributed to the contamination
of the rail ballast material in the area where the rail cars were staged
prior to shipping.
Question: Was this
expected?
Answer: It was always
expected that there would be a potential for crushed ore to contaminate
soils in the crusher and ore stockpile/loading area. Both of these areas
and a portion of the rail car staging area were underlined with impervious
High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) liners to protect the areas from becoming
contaminated with copper ore. The contaminated soils and liners were removed
during reclamation activities under WDNR’s observation before regrading;
topsoil replacement and seeding took place. Conversion of the 0.9-acre
surge pond into the passive treatment biofilter was done to address any
potential impacts the remaining rail ballast material west of Hwy 27 and
the WDNR administration office parking lot could have on the quality of
surface water runoff from these areas. A conscious decision was made not
to remove the surge pond, to convert it to a biofilter and continue to
monitor its effectiveness. It was expected that the system design would
function in containing the non-hazardous contamination and prevent it from
migrating off site. As the monitoring shows, this area did indeed have
a source of contamination and presented a source for long-term monitoring
and the need to eventually remove the ballast material. Therefore, KMC
removed this material as part of the rail crossing removal requested by
WDOT.
Question: Any suggestions
to prevent this from happening again?
Answer: There are
many practical means to prevent ore spillage from rail cars in an active
rail car staging area. It is KMC’s belief that the actions taken to contain,
treat and monitor runoff from the west rail spur and parking lot areas
were more than adequate to protect the water quality of Meadowbrook Creek
and the Flambeau River. Nevertheless, removing the upper 2 feet of material
from the entire length of the west rail spur should reduce the need for
the biofilter and long-term monitoring requirements. This removal action
could have been achieved as part of the final reclamation and not become
a separate activity that has led to much speculation and misleading information
from a few individuals. |
Trouble
on the Tracks
By:
Larry Lynch, Mining Team Leader
Bureau of Waste Management
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
This article is the copy of an email sent to a third party in response
to his questions, with the following note attached.
Please note that the units (ppm) I referred to in the third paragraph
should have been ppb.
The only recent activity at the Flambeau Mine site involved removal
of the railroad ballast material in the former rail car loading and storage
area. The soils contained elevated levels of copper and sulfur and
also was low in pH. The company removed the upper two feet of ballast
material for the entire length of the rail spur and disposed of it at a
nearby landfill.
After cessation of mining, we noticed that there was a fair amount of
sulfide minerals present near the surface and intermixed with the rail
ballast material. Over time, we also began to observe copper "blooms"
forming on the surface, particularly during the warm and dry summer months.
In addition, we noted that the rails themselves started to show signs of
accelerated corrosion, to the point that material was actually spalling
off of the tracks.
Also, beginning in late 1999, the company began sampling the wetlands
and biofilters that were created on the site as part of final reclamation.
The small biofilter adjacent to the rail spur showed much higher levels
of copper that all of the other areas sampled. Copper levels in the biofilter
ranged from 25 - 91 ppm while the highest concentration in any of the other
wetlands was 12 ppm. The biofilter flows to a small intermittent stream
that eventually flows into the Flambeau River.
The combination of the visual observations of the spur area and the
water quality information for the biofilter provided compelling evidence
that a problem was developing so the company conducted a sampling program
this summer to characterize the ballast material and determine the extent
of the problem. The sampling results indicated that the upper six
inches of the ballast material was high in copper (typical values between
200-400 mg/Kg) and sulfur (1000-19000 mg/Kg) and also exhibited generally
low pH (around 4.0). Some sampling locations also showed similar
characteristics deeper into the profile. Therefore, it was determined
that the best course of action was to remove the upper 2 feet of material
from the entire length of the spur west of the highway. The material
was removed in November and hauled to a nearby solid waste facility.
It was not hazardous and easily met the acceptance criteria of the landfill.
Final reclamation (topsoil application and seeding) will be completed in
the spring. We assume that the residual sulfides present in the ballast
material was the source of the copper in the biofilter and expect that
the removal should take care of the problem. Monitoring of the biofilter
and the intermittent stream will continue.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any additional questions.
Larry Lynch, Mining Team Leader
Bureau of Waste Management
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
(608)267-7553
(608)267-2768 (FAX)
lawrence.lynch@dnr.state.wi.us
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the editor