I 



} 



10 Greal Falls Tribune 



SundK. June it. l<i:S 





Anaconda Co. correcting problem aMSmI 



By/CARLABECK 



: Tribune Sun Writer 



1 - Anaconda Co. has correcied 



j the immediaie emergency ai 



I Mike Hor« Mine Dam and is 



DOW evaluating the suuaiion 



tor future control. 



M Tliis is the word Irom Frank 



I Laird' bead o( environmemal 



engineering lor Anaconda's 



General Mining Division ai 



Tucson. Laird arrived in the 



area Thursday to check the 



daioages and assess the ttork 



up lor some time and they had 

 apparently been owrlaid by a 

 la>'er ol silt, uliich produced 

 water ol a quality' good enough 

 to maintain the trout. 

 "EverjThing »as calm. Vege- 

 tation was growing in the pond 

 and there was a lood chain that 

 look care ol the fish'" he ad- 

 ded 



Laird explained the precau- 

 tions which had been followed 

 at the dam. At the inlet, a 

 headgate had been installed 



'being done on the 50-looi high some years ago to divert water 



tailing dam. that eroded and 

 spilled tailings into the head- 



. waters ol the Blackfoot River 

 more than a week ago. 



P^The dam, which LainJ said 

 he believed is leased by 

 Anaconda, is located in the 

 HeddJeston Mining District. 16 

 miles east of Lincoln and about 

 three miles south of Montana 

 Highway 200. 



1^ Laird said a diversion ditch 

 and headgate have been 

 repaired and a culven has 

 Seen reopened. Saturday 

 CTews were to divert water so 

 tt will be independent of any 

 flow through the tailings dam 

 breach.- . - 



■}''"We' will have to evaluate 

 what we are going to do in the 

 future to prevent further 

 channeling." Laird said. 



two wa\-s— to a concrete cui 

 \'en that went under the dam 

 or to a diversion ditch that 

 discharged in a solids area 

 independent ol the dam This 

 had been maintained by 

 Anaconda t-'irough a contractor 

 in Lincoln. 



The contractor nsited the 

 site Wednesday. June 18. 

 because ot the rains, which 

 wCT« coming dow-n on hea^7 

 snow in the area. Thursday. 

 June 19, he atiempted to visit 

 the site but the road to it was 

 flooded in early morning. That 

 evening he \nsited the site by 

 helicopter and the dam was 

 tight. Lmle or no water was 

 overflowing the dam. Laird 

 said the breach in the tailings 

 dam occurred between 10 p.m. 

 Thursday and 6 a.m. Friday. 



l^^There are many alternatives The tailings were first nsible 



and they are all costly. But we in the flooded area Friday 



are^now investigating what morning. 



j.wll!_be necessary for future Laird said the contractor 



.gjsitive control." had a crew working on the 



SPn'vlding some background road Saturday and that equip- 



tijjbe. piadent' Laird said the ment to repair the dam had 



LKfil^ Horse' a lead and zinc 

 [operation, apparently initiated 

 I thetailings pond m about 1941. 

 LThe dam raised as the opera- 

 Uia^Jroceeded,' until about 

 ^cS 1951 Since that time 

 mipe has been inoperable 



ahdj^oS. active tailings have the stream and its life. "*'e 

 gon^inio the impoundment have a good base line from 



^fM said the tailings cover 

 the p^ter portion of the pond, 

 to there was little oppportumry 

 [livi a' significant quantity of 





r*ater to be Impounded behind and we conducted a study of 

 the. dam. Yet he commented, the water quality' fish popula 



-and be was backed up by Liter 

 Spepce. planning ecologist 

 with the State Department of 

 Rsh and Game, there was a 

 cutthroat fishery In that pond 

 before the dam was breached. 

 xSpence speculated that the 

 mllin^ had not been stirred 

 ^^■^ 



ineni of Fish and Game, said 

 the purpose of the study is in 

 the event any company decides 

 to develop the Heddleslon 

 mining body, it will be done 

 with a minimum disruption of 

 the wildlife resource. 



Spence said Fnday the im- 

 mediate problem is to get the 

 water off the tailings. "That 

 big gash m the dam is down to 

 bedrock and the creek is Just 

 going down through there now' 

 carnnng very fine material. 

 It's m those tailings where the 

 problem is going to occur"' 

 Spence said He said cutthroat 

 are spawning in the upper 

 Blackfoot now. 



Spence said he has to agree 

 with others who have 

 expressed tears about the po- 

 tential for extensive damage to 

 the nver due to oxidation of the 

 metals along the stream' 

 lorming acids and toxic meuls 

 in the water. 



been moved in Sunday. The 



crew began making repairs 



Monday. 



' Laird said Anaconda has 



helped fund a study in the area 



for many years and this study 



should indicate the damage to 



which to work'" he said. 



Spence explained that Fish 

 and Game made a contractual 

 agreement with Anaconda in 

 1970. "They partially funded it 



tion and aquatic insects. I 

 spent a linle over three years 

 collecting samples. I'm just 

 completing the report now," 

 he said. 



James Posewiti, chief of the 

 Environmental and Informa- 

 tion Division of the Depan- 



"Vl'hen you see ho* bad It 

 looks. It's bard to imagine It 

 wont have detrimental effects 

 on the nver," he added. 



Spence said he thinks 

 Anaconda is sincere in trying 

 to do the immediate job. "My 

 feeling is that maybe if there 

 had been someone there from 

 top management to gel the' 

 thing going lull-speed ahead' It 

 would have been better. It's 

 frustrating to watch that gray 

 water going down the nver. ' 

 But then. I'm not a contractor 

 and 1 don'i know the prDblems 

 they have." he said. 



Spence said there has to be a 

 more final solution than the 

 patchwork going on now. ■•] 

 don't know the engineering 

 answer, but anything running 

 into that pond now is going to 

 come out that hole." he added. 



He called tailing ponds 

 "timebombs thai are scattered 

 wherever there has been min- ' 



ing and which are Just^ settings 

 there malting lor circums-'i 

 tances to cause something like ! 

 this." :•-■ *•-■•>-</ 



"—:..'. .Ill -Or 



A-62 



Vy-M.i^-* irw«»rsio».™r«™ 



