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A comment on Abandoned mines cover the West.

Re:Abandoned mines cover the West by jeffbee on Monday September 30, 2024 @10:01PM (#41704021)
It surprised me when I moved west how recent some of these are, and that they are not all out in the middle of nowhere. There's a gold mine in Napa County that was developed in the 1980s, well after CEQA was enacted. The guy who owns it took out a billion dollars worth of gold and left a big hole where all the acid is impounded behind a dam, in the middle of the Cache Creek watershed. I visit that region frequently and I always wonder why we thought we had to do every last gold mine.
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Re:Abandoned mines cover the West by Loughla on Monday September 30, 2024 @10:16PM (#41704081)
You answered your own question.

That person made a billion dollars and left the residents and state with the problems. Business genius.

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Re:Abandoned mines cover the West by freeqaz on Monday September 30, 2024 @10:25PM (#41704117)
Found the link to what you're talking about: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulphur_Bank_Mine#McLaughlin_M...
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Re:Abandoned mines cover the West by snypher on Monday September 30, 2024 @11:11PM (#41704311)
"The McLaughlin Mine enjoyed a reputation as one of the most ecologically sensitive gold mining operations in the world. Nevertheless, during its last year of operation in 2002, the mine emitted 32,396 pounds of mercury into the environment."

Wow that's really saying something.

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Re:Abandoned mines cover the West by Aloisius on Tuesday October 01, 2024 @12:02AM (#41704526)
Eh. Moving rock that contains low concentrations of mercury into a pile is considered "releasing" it.

Whether it carries any risk to the environment depends on local factors.

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Re:Abandoned mines cover the West by freeqaz on Tuesday October 01, 2024 @02:31AM (#41705202)
It did say that it was methylated and made bioavailable. Not great I think.
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Re:Abandoned mines cover the West by Aloisius on Tuesday October 01, 2024 @12:46PM (#41710882)
That's from the old mercury mines in the area and erosion from naturally enriched mercury soil/runoff from naturally enriched geothermal springs, not the McLaughlin gold mine.

(The Wikipedia article is for the Sulfur Bank Mercury Mine. The McLaughlin mine is referenced due to how gold was discovered, but it's about 15 miles away)

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Re:Abandoned mines cover the West by Aloisius on Monday September 30, 2024 @11:30PM (#41704396)
Last I heard, the McLaughlin Mine pits are slightly alkaline. There was a period when they were filling up in the 90s where they were acidic, before being buffered by the pit wall rocks and backfill during reclamation.
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Re:Abandoned mines cover the West by abakker on Monday September 30, 2024 @10:15PM (#41704079)
same reason we monetize every click, fund every ad tech, and track every data point. People feel the need to exploit resources in order to get rich.

A billion dollars in actual gold is pretty real. Look at superfund sites like Captain Jack mine in Boulder. significant un-managed harm and not that much commercial output.

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Re:Abandoned mines cover the West by WillPostForFood on Monday September 30, 2024 @10:53PM (#41704229)
If only we could get back to lifestyle devoid of using any resources...
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Re:Abandoned mines cover the West by abakker on Monday September 30, 2024 @11:59PM (#41704508)
Username checks out :).

But, really, I think we’re both posting with a bit of hyperbole here. Of course monetizing resources is how we get resources. OTOH, not monetizing every resource is fine - there exists the possibility of future value in some resources that we haven’t discovered.

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Re:Abandoned mines cover the West by defrost on Monday September 30, 2024 @10:57PM (#41704252)
The middle ground is have states bake minesite remediation costs into the permissions contracts of mining leases and to enforce such obligations upon those who profit so as to not allow "bankruptcy" defaults by shell companies.

This will increase resource costs, put downwards pressure on consumption, etc but we'll still function as a society.

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