Hard-Rock Mining Contamination

Information on Contamination Associated with Active and Abandoned Hard Rock Mining

Thousands of historical hard-rock (gold, copper, and zinc) mines exist across the Western United States. Mine dumps, tailing piles, and unmined mineral deposits can contaminate the surrounding watershed when weathering of exposed minerals causes acid drainage and metals-enriched waters. Research, focusing on the processes that affect migration of contamination and ecological effects, are underway in watersheds with differing climate and hydrologic settings. Results are being used and demonstrated through the USGS Abandoned Mine Lands Initiative.

Headlines

• Daily Variation of Metals in Streams Can Confound Scientific Studies
• Nature's Way of Cleaning Up Mining-Contaminated Streams
• Tracer-Tests Steer Cleanup of Mined Watersheds

Toxics Program Abandoned Mine Lands Investigations

• USGS Abandoned Mine Lands Initiative
• Hard Rock Mining Contamination in Rocky Mountain Terrain -- Upper Arkansas River, Colorado
• Hard Rock Mining Contamination in Arid Southwest Alluvial Basins -- Pinal Creek, Arizona

Fact Sheets

• Diurnal variation in trace-metal concentrations in streams: (Nimick, 2003, FS-086-03)
• Mercury Contamination from Historic Gold Mining in California (Alpers and Hunerlach, 2000, FS-061-00)
• The USGS Abandoned Mine Lands Initiative: Protecting and Restoring the Environment Near Abandoned Mine Lands (1999, FS-095-99)
• Using OTIS to Model Solute Transport in Streams and Rivers (Runkel, 2000, FS-138-99)

Links to USGS Information on Abandoned Mine Lands and Contamination from Hard Rock Mining

• USGS Mine Drainage Activities
• Hands-on Experiments to test for Acid Mine Drainage
• Arsenic Contamination from Hard Rock Mining -- Whitewood Creek-Belle Fourche River - Cheyenne River System, Western South Dakota
• Mine Waste Characterization
• USGS Mine Drainage Activities links
• USGS Mining-Environment Studies
• USGS Mineral Resources Program - Abandoned mine lands and effects of mining
• Aquatic Toxicology, Aquatic Physical Habitat, and Sediment Analysis in Evaluating Land Mine Remediation Measures
• Bear-Yuba Abandoned Mine Lands: Interagency project on mercury from gold mining areas
• Mercury and Arsenic Contamination Associated with Abandoned Mine Lands, Bear River and South Yuba River Watersheds
• Analytical Environmental Trace Element Chemistry and Its Impact on Water Quality
• Toxics Program - Metal Release, Transport, and Attenuation in Mined Areas: Mechanisms and Implications for Remediation and Land-Use Strategies
• Arsenic Studies Group
• USGS Energy Resources Program - U.S. Coal Quality Database

Bibliographies

• Abandoned Mine Lands and Hard Rock Mining Contamination