Gold Mine Broke Water Rules from the Beginning, State Says

By K.C. Mehaffey, World staff writer, April 29, 2009

WENATCHEE WORLD

CHESAW — The Buckhorn Mountain gold mine near Chesaw has been violating its water quality permit since it started mining ore from the mountain last summer, the state says.

On Monday, the state Department of Ecology fined Crown Resources Corp. $40,000 in penalties for failing to collect and treat all the water from operations and from storm water since June 2008.

The quality of the water tested in monitoring wells does not exceed water quality standards, but well tests show higher concentrations of chloride and total dissolved solids — or dirt — than in water collected before operations began, said Ecology spokeswoman Joye Redfield-Wilder.

"Our view of the data is that they’re on the road to actual water quality violations, and they are not operating within the permit," she added.

The mine is run by Crown Resources Corp., which is owned by Toronto-based Kinross Gold Corp.

A Kinross official said the company disagrees that the terms of its permit were violated, but agrees there’s a problem, and said it will be corrected.

Lauren Roberts, general manager of Kinross’ Kettle River Operations, said the fact that monitoring wells picked up the problem shows the system is working as designed.

"The crux of this matter is how we are interpreting some of the data relative to how Ecology is. We’ll find our way through the differences, but we’ll correct whatever we need to correct to stay in compliance with our permits," he said.

But a local environmental group that’s been fighting the gold mine for nearly 20 years questioned whether it’s possible to gather and treat all water from the operation now, and after the mine has removed all the ore in seven years.

"That issue — how do you guarantee that all mine water will be captured and treated? — is conceptually a problem we’ve had with this mine all along," said David Kliegman, director of Okanogan Highlands Alliance. "That’s the question we have. Can you actually capture all the water from the mountain forever? This is the very beginning of the project, and they already have a problem," he said.

Roberts said the mine’s treatment system is dealing with roughly 40 gallons of water per minute, including water used in the mining process, underground water seepage, and water that falls as rain or snow.

He said monitoring indicates that up to a half gallon of water per minute may not be reaching the mine’s capture zone, which gathers all the water and treats it before returning it to nature.

Roberts said Kinross Gold disagrees that the problem started last June. "Certainly, if we recognized a problem 10 months ago, we would have dealt with it 10 months ago," he said.

Roberts said the company hasn’t decided whether to appeal the finding, but plans to comply with Ecology’s order, which requires installing new catch basins to capture water before it reaches creeks or ground water, and increasing its water monitoring. Kinross already sends monthly reports to the state with monitoring data, he said.

Kinross built the mine last year and is still ramping up operations, Roberts said. The company plans to employ 180 people by midyear, and expects to extract about a million ounces of gold over the next seven years, he said.

He said the company is planning to explore nearby federal and private lands for gold.

K.C. Mehaffey: 997-2512
mehaffey@wenatcheeworld.com

Wenatchee World.com