Ely Mine Project - Assignment Example

Ely Mine Summary Project College: Executive summary This document has the objective of documenting the nature and the extent to which the contamination of Ely mine Superfund site, a site that is located in the vershire, Vermont has occurred. I have prepared this Remedial Investigation report in consultation with the Environmental Protection Agency statement of work and previously established work plan on the same investigation. The investigation is structured in a manner that areas that are ready for a clean up action are given a green flag to do so as other areas remain under investigations. It is divided into two operable units therefore: while operable unit one include roast beds along with surface water, waste rocks, tailing, soil, and sediments for the entire region. Operable unit two includes the source zones that relate to the shaft underground, the impacts of the site ground water as well as the soil and the sediments that relate to the smoke flue. These divisions are as shown on figure ES-2. This investigation report brings to the table all the information relating to both the two units. A supplemental remedial investigation is though required to bring forward information that has use in making the second phase very complete. Introduction The main reason for the preparation of this hybrid reports is to bring together the information from both the phases including all the aspects of BERA, HHRA and ROD summarizing all that is done on Ely mine site to. First, formulate and make a determination on the nature and extent to which the soil in this area has been contaminated as well as the surface water, air within the site and its geographical surrounding (Kierstead, 2001). Secondly, the reports will involve an evaluation into the fate and how the contaminants have been transported. Third, the report will as well extend to include the assessment of human health and ecological exposures. Generally, the remedial investigation has it that the contamination has largely resulted from the extraction and the processing activities of the ore in the area under jurisdiction. This is coupled with the waste disposal that takes place at the site. The mining activity and waste disposal action has resulted into tailings, waste in form of rocks and slag hence the widespread constituents of the ore covering a very big area. The widespread of such forms of harmful substances has made their accessibility to human and animal as well as ecological receptors quite easy. Contamination has hence been noted in the soils, sediment, surface and ground water in the proportions indicated in the excel sheets. This has the impact of posing a threat to public health as has been witnessed in some of the instances (Gusek & Waples, 2009). The reports also indicate findings from leaching as reported of metals from the waste rocks and tailings as they cause serious ecological impacts. Findings within pond 4 and 5, school house brook, Elly brook, vernal pool 1 and the five tributaries of Elly brook as indicated on the regional map are reported as these places are experience severe ecological impacts. The data indicates that human contact with water and the sediments of the ponds mentioned together with the school do not result into an exposure of any human health risk (Gusek & Waples, 2009). This risk exposure is though brought about by the human contact with the mine site and the soil contaminated with the mineral ores. Furthermore, it is found that the ground water and surrounding the waste rock piles, tailings, slag, and piles are vastly contaminated and hence unsuitable for consumption by humans and animals. On the other hand, the fact that the area is not extensively exploited for recreational activities does not present any threat to human health whatsoever. Site description Elly mine site is an abandoned copper mine that is located in Vershire, Vermont in Orange county. The area has a land covering approximately 350 acres and it extends through the slopes of Dwight hill, through schoolhouse Brooke and to the south of the Vershire road, see map. The features included in the site would involve waste rocks, intact and collapsed adits and shafts, the foundations that have since remained of the buildings that hosted the mining operations. This site also hosts a 1500-foot long smoke flue and about 3000 feet of workings underground. The waste area extends around, the roast beds that were used previously, waste rock piles, a tailings pile, slag pile and smelter area all within the water shade. As shown, the Ely brook joins the school brook house (SHB) at the margin in the south (Kierstead, 2001). SHB has a confluence with the eastern branch of river Ompompanoosuc as it flows approximately 1.75 miles eastwards. Ely brook tributary two that is a major tributary to the main river drains from a former reservoir and several ponds. The main minerals within the site include chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite, pyrite, and sphalerite. The environmental impact that was caused by acid rock drainage within the area propagated its addition into the superfund listing: the site as well acts as a historical site due to its unique historical characters. This copper mine is among the three major and historic copper mines that are located within the Beshi type ore deposits. These areas include the Vermont copper belt, Ely, Pike hill and Elizabeth mines covering and extensive region of about 20 miles from the south to the north of the region (Kierstead, 2001). The discovery of the ore was in the year 1813 after which serious mining activity commenced in the year 1853 through to the year 1905. The initial construction of the smelter lead to the onset in ore roasting which is normally meant to bring down the level of sulphur content prior to smelting. The mining activities in the region received a boost in between the years 1872 to 1880 as the area received a drastic population growth. The sulphur fumes acted to eliminate all the vegetation of the area by the year 1876. This is despite the efforts such as the construction of a stone slab approximately ¼ miles long to try and contain and reduce the fumes in the valley (Kierstead, 2001). This effort became futile while on the other hand mining activities sprouted in a wild expansion to about 24 furnaces. Smelter slag on the other hand continued to pile southwards towards SHB. The ownership of the mine shifted severally until 1905 when the operations closed due to lack of copper ore and the unattractive prices in the world market at the time. This lead to the site being closed, machines sold, and a complete change of activity into a floatation mill which tried to revive copper mining operations. This also failed due to further dwindling of copper prices after the World War II (Gusek & Waples, 2009). Methods, Approach & Results This investigation is inclined to take two approaches in its analysis; that is, the Baseline, Ecological Risk Assessment (BERA) and Human Health Risk Assessment (HHRA) through this Remedial investigation, which documents the nature and the extent of the contamination. The third approach will be meat to bring to force the remediation plan and it is referred to as the Record of Decision (ROD). BERA This approach focuses on the non-human parts of the ecosystem both on aquatic and terrestrial organisms. In our case, this approach saw its major application on both the aquatic and terrestrial habitats that got mostly affected by the site. These brings on board the following areas: Ely Brook and its major tributaries, the ponds from one all the way to five as they sever the headwaters to tributary two. In addition, we have the vermal pools, SHB, and the Ompompanoosuc River (Kierstead, 2001). Tests were done on the sediments, pore and pod water and a series of viable endpoints to assess the level of risk were formulated which involve. A comparison of contamination agents of potential ecological concerns (COPECs) on the aquatic substances identified. A measurement of the Acid Volatile Sulfides and Simultaneously Extracted Metals to asses the bioavailability of the divalent metals. Laboratory tests were also conducted to determine the level of toxicity on the life cycle of the aquatic invertebrates. Toxicity tests were also performed on the ponds through the wood frog eggs as well as the comparison of COPECs levels in whole fish collected. a quantification of the structure and the functionality of the fish community and the benthic invertebrate community along the waterways (Argue, Kiah, Piatak, Seal, Hammarstrom, Hathaway, and Coles, 2008). Finally, there was also the use of food chain modeling to aid in the calculation of the estimated daily dose (EDD) to the water organisms on their receptors. This analysis lead to the conclusion that severe ecological impacts have taken place due to release of ARD with toxic degree of metals into the site waters. The tests conducted on the terrestrial habitat saw the major ecological threat in this front to be the impairment of plant and soil invertebrates as exhibited in the barren regions of the site (Johnson and Hallberg, 2002). HHRA HHRA of the site was prepared to provide a description of the risk assessment methods applied on the site with the main objective of this being an elimination potential current and future health risks due to the contamination experienced on soil, sediments, both surface and ground water. An evaluation was conducted on the data from the above-mentioned substances hence and identification of the highest possible analyte concentration of to help determine the Contaminants of Potential Concerns (COPCs). The whole area was shown as a single exposure area concerning soil and there was not any indication of any unique areas of potential exposure. The data of fish tissue was employed for use in finding the potential risks in SHB and EBOR (Johnson and Hallberg, 2002). This analysis by way of HHRA provided the following exposure scenarios: persona living adjacent to the site and came into contact with the soil for 350 days per year had a high exposure. A person installing a drinking water well in the contaminated ground water and consuming 2 liters of that water each day was exposed. Visitors to the site for a frequency of about 104 times per year and coming into contact with the soil and one visiting for about 22 times per year and swimming I Ely Brook and SHB were exposed. Concerning HHRA, the contact that human have with both sediments and surface water during recreational activities was also considered to present a threat (Argue, Kiah, Piatak, Seal, Hammarstrom, Hathaway, and Coles, 2008). Interpretation and recommendations Based on the findings and the results through the methods and approaches used, the release of ARD from the site causes severe impacts to surface and ground water together with the sediments. The observations and conclusions would be as below therefore; Over 172000 cy of tailings, roasted ore, slag and waste rock due to repeated mining have metals that go beyond the specific soil criteria within the Ely mines region. The XRF results from the field of both soil and sediments used to refine limits present a high degree of confidence in soil identification of 629 milligrams per kilogram (Piatak, Hammarstrom, Seal II, Briggs, Meier, Muzik, Jackson, (USGS), 2004a). The three major tributaries are responsible for most of the contamination experienced in the region with tributary EBT2 responsible for most of the metal loads deposited. Most of the metal loadings are found to originate from UWA and LWA and is responsible for most of the acidity experienced in the down stream. This is coupled with smelter slag leaches responsible for the major impacts on SHB (Walton-Day, 2003). The water discharges experienced from the main adit and the lower adit impacts significantly to the down gradient surface water. Due to the fact that the sources of waste in the LWA and the tailings area get saturated with ground water resulting into an overburdening and swallowing of the ground water hence the experienced impacts by ARD and the metals (Johnson and Hallberg, 2002). It is clear that the metal loading from Ely Brook is much higher than two orders of magnitude above that of the groundwater; this is from the evaluation and analysis conducted on loading to SHB from ground water in the smelter area and the slag pile. Therefore, any detectable impacts of ground water are covered, as it is also difficult to prove a mere opinion that it is the action of ground water discharge alone resulting into its exceedance by the surface water in SHB (Argue, Kiah, Piatak, Seal, Hammarstrom, Hathaway, and Coles, 2008). Due to the potential harmful impacts that such mining activities has had on the people a continuation has to be stopped and future impacts embedded. This is possible through prior clean up action for the whole area upon the completion of the remedial action. Threats to human have been identified to be the prolonged future consumption of the contaminated ground water, both direct ingestion and contact with the soil contaminated with copper, cobalt, and iron. This implementation of ground water use avoidance has to be ensured in cases where such water is not trusted for human consumption (Walton-Day, 2003). Partly, this will be possible to enhanced institutional controls by way of existing data. Such controls will involve acts such as placed land use restrictions. In addition, appropriate technology of handling ground water should be brought to force to help in salvaging the much-needed water and help clean up the site for biodiversity. References Argue D.M., Kiah, R.G., Piatak, N.M., Seal, R.R., Hammarstrom, J.M., Hathaway, E., and Coles, J., (2008). Selected Water- and Sediment-Quality, Aquatic Biology, and Mine Waste Data from the Ely Copper Mine Superfund Site, Vershire, VT, 1998-2007. Data Series 378. Gusek & Waples (2009). Passive Treatment of Metal-Bearing Runoff/Seepage 101: An Overview of the Technologies. Ottawa, Ont.: Lexington, KY. Johnson and Hallberg (2002). Metal Mine Rock and Waste Characterization Tools: An Overview. Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Division of Lands and Minerals, St. Paul, Minnesota. April. Kierstead, M. A., (2001). History and Historical Resources of the Vermont Copper Belt. Society of Economic Geologist Guidebook Series, v. 35, p. 165-191. Piatak, N.M., Hammarstrom, J.M., Seal II, R.R., Briggs, P.H., Meier, A.L., Muzik, T.L., Jackson, J.C., (USGS), (2004a). Geochemical Characterization of Mine Waste at the Ely Copper Mine Superfund Site, Orange County, Vermont. OFR 2004-1248. Walton-Day, (2003). Passive treatment of water and sources. Selection for specific source data: Ontario: Canada. Read More