All One River GIS

The mining industry of Colorado has come to a grand brink in South Park. For those who are unfamiliar, South Park, Colorado is not just a cartoon with foul mouthed kids. It’s an actual place within a region rich in wilderness, beauty, wildlife, and natural resources. The name “South Park” refers to a sequence of high country plateaus linked through the spine of the Rocky Mountains through a widening breach of expanded terrain related to the Rio Grande Rift system. The result is a chain of high altitude basins, similar to the Alti Plano of South America, bound by rims of spectacular mountain ranges, some of which are at an elevation above 14,000 feet elevation. This type of regional deformation lifts the massive hard rock ranges relative to the dropping basins and exposes the roots of highly mineralized systems to within the mineable reach of the surface.

Problem:

South Park residents (and likely the Park County Commissioners) do not realize or appreciate or comprehend the role of these deposits as strategic resources to our economy on a national level. Park County is in the throes of spill-over from the ski-industry of nearby Summit County and is allowing applicants for Conditional Use permits to build residential homes on historically mined and strategic resource deposits – deposits that have been defined by the U.S.G.S. and Colorado State Geological Surveysas mineralized provinces. In Park County’s Land Use Regulations, a single family residence is permitted on mining zoned properties for the purposes of allowing care takers and managers of mining properties to live on the premise, but under this loop hole, families like Joe Schmoe and his kids from the city are acquiring mining zoned properties and building residential homes to live their daily lives on so they can go skiing nearby. Not a good idea. Mineralized areas are not only strategic for resources, but the background minerals are often harmful to humans in direct daily contact – minerals like mercury, thallium, arsenic, uranium and other toxic minerals that occur naturally within mineralized provinces in Park County.

Here are some immediate issues with this lack of foresight:

The mineralized areas of Park County are currently and specifically designated as strategic mineral resources in numerous USGS as well as Colorado Geological Survey publications. At recent Park County Commissioner’s Conditional Use Permit hearings their geologic analyst stated that “there was no mineralization”. Unfortunately, the geologist who wrote reports in support of the recent applications for Conditional Use permits is either greatly misinformed, out of touch with modern resource estimates, or simply not qualified for this type of analysis. There are many types of geologists and many levels of accreditation and if you don’t hire a geologist who specializes in this type of analysis, then you are not likely going to get an accurate estimate of the mineral potential. He did not provide any evidence to support his rebuttal of what the USGS and Colorado State Geological Surveys have already defined in numerous studies and publications other than his personal opinion. For example, what kind of testing, assaying, drilling, etc. was done to determine that there was no mineralization? This is an example of “a guy yammering about something way over his head.” This geo is way out of his league and getting away with this pontification based on the lack of fact made available to the county Commissioners.

Meanwhile, here are some interesting facts available for the public (source, Jim Burnell, Ph.D., R.P.G. Minerals Geologist  of the Colorado State Geological Survey):

The need for strategic minerals is not new and is not a result of Bush administration. The first time the United States felt a crunch for natural resources was in 1918 at the end of WWI. Our country basically ran out of material for making things like guns, trains, ships, lighthouses, canals, jetties, navigation channels, and roads. The US recognized security threats way before Homeland Security existed and we created the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers to address our internal infrastructure. One thing became immediately evident was lack of resources. This need instigated a legacy of Federally derived legislative acts for the evaluation of our strategic mineral reserves, including:

• 1938 — Naval Appropriations Act
• 1939 – Strategic Minerals Act
• 1940 – Reconstruction Finance Corp created to acquire & transport materials
• World War II Era: 1944 – Surplus Property Act authorized strategic materials stockpile
• Developed into the Defense National Stockpile Center (DNSC)
• 1992 – Congress directed DNSC to sell off the bulk of their stockpiles.

As a result, we have an evaluation of what our country believes are strategic minerals necessary for our welfare and future interests, but we have been “selling off” the stockpiles, as people with lack of foresight are known to do from time to time.

Here is a list of some of the strategic minerals found in Colorado followed by our national dependency on foreign import:

Geologic Commodities: (Resource / % Dependency)

Alumina 100% dependency on foreign resource

Manganese 100% dependency on foreign resource

Antimony 86% dependency on foreign resource

Sheet mica 100% dependency on foreign resource

Arsenic 100% dependency on foreign resource

Nickel 60% dependency on foreign resource

Barite 83% dependency on foreign resource

Niobium 100% dependency on foreign resource

Bismuth 95% dependency on foreign resource

Platinum Group~90% dependency on foreign resource

Cesium 100% dependency on foreign resource

Rare Earth Elements 100% dependency on foreign resource

Cobalt 81% dependency on foreign resource

Rhenium 87% dependency on foreign resource

Fluorspar 100% dependency on foreign resource

Scandium 100% dependency on foreign resource

Gallium 99% dependency on foreign resource

Silver 55% dependency on foreign resource

Graphite 100% dependency on foreign resource

Tin 79% dependency on foreign resource

Indium 100% dependency on foreign resource

Titanium 82% dependency on foreign resource

Lithium > 50% dependency on foreign resource

Tantalum 100% dependency on foreign resource

Magnesium 57% dependency on foreign resource

Vanadium 100% dependency on foreign resource

 

Who is supplying these minerals to us? Long term friendly entities, right?

 

Primary Import Sources:

Aluminum: Guinea, Brazil, Australia, Jamaica

Barium/Barite: China

Chromium: Russia, Zimbabwe, South Africa

Cobalt: Russia, Canada, Norway

Gallium: China, Russia, Ukraine

Indium: China, Russia

Manganese: China, Gabon

Nickel: Russia, Canada, Australia

PGM: Russia, Ukraine, Canada, S. Africa

REE: China

Scandium: China, Russia, Ukraine

Tellurium: Central Africa

Vanadium: Swaziland, C. Africa

Those damn furriners! What this lists means in short is that the same kind of crunch Americans feel in the pocket now when it comes to, say, gas prices is going to be hitting us in the pocket for any commodity that has an on-off switch on it. Why? What the heck are these minerals used for and what has that got to do with me? I recycle. I drive a Subaru. I donate to Sierra Club. Check it out:

“Strategic” minerals are integral components of things like:

Alternative energy solar panels (photo-voltaic reactions)

Wind-generated power cells and batteries

Cell phones

Hi-definition transmission devices (TV and radios)

Liquid crystal displays, i.e. flat panels and screens (computer, TV, etc.)

Zip sticks (memory sticks)

Lap top computers

LEDs (light emitting diodes)

P.E.T.s – i.e. any recyclable type of plastic

All galvanized metals, including chrome plating on lovely Hummer bumpers and wheels

Cosmetics, pharmaceuticals (OK, I can live without make-up)

Surgical Stainless steel (got a metal pin or fake hip in your body? Need surgical instrumentation?)

Aerospace stuff

High-tensile and high impact resistant alloys, i.e. bullet proof anything

Mountain bikes

 

Consider this:

ALL alternative energy mechanisms require rare minerals to “make electricity from wind and the sun.” Power plants burn raw material to make electricity that goes into a massive network of copper wiring to get the electricity to your house so you can plug things in and recharge batteries. Yes, they do. Alternative-source power utilizes the reactive character of certain “strategic” minerals to make electricity to store in a battery that feeds the same massive network of copper wiring that leads to your house so you can turn things on and recharge your batteries.

The power plant emits CO2 and SO2 – bad. However, passive power consumes raw materials for panels and batteries, which comes from mining. Power plants takes up a certain amount of space and require so much raw material to make so much energy. Passive energy takes up 100% more space to produce a fraction of the same amount of energy. But, we hope to develop more efficient means of alternative power sources. Yes. And these sources will likely use some highly specialized minerals to do so: mined minerals, whether you like it or not.

In the meantime, most of us know the United States is the largest consumer of the planet’s energy and raw resources. So, yes, we need to get a grip on our consumption of natural resources. However, we are not the largest population in the world and we do not control what other countries choose to do. This is evident in past and recent international symposiums that address issues of global interest such as controlling deforestation of the rain forest, protection of endangered species, and simply protecting humans from themselves in the arena of human rights. Green House effects, carbon in the atmosphere, and consumption of natural resources fits in there somewhere on the agenda, I think before saving penguins and after abolishing human trafficking…

China and India are the upcoming largest populations of human beings this planet has ever hosted and they are consuming the same things we wealthy Americans are: SUVs, cellular phones, hi-def TVs, etc. (Dang it!) The demand from newly developing countries is impacting the supply and price of critical and strategic minerals. Global analysis of this situation warns us all that we not only need to curtail our consumption of resources, but that even with combined fossil fuels AND passive energy sources – there is not enough material defined on this planet to provide material for the looming resource crunch to come. (See previous blog: “Colorado National Mining Symposium“)

Full circle back to Park County in Colorado: Wake up!South Park has mineral resources that are not being evaluated for their potential nor for their strategic role our country’s critical dependency on foreign resources which is going to have an adverse affect on the price of things we use. The general public may not like the mining industry but today’s modern mining methods (such as the current in-situ uranium mining proposed for South Park) are not yesterday’s tragedy any more than heart surgery or cancer treatment was 25 years ago (as when Summitville occurred). Today’s mining is conducted under strict litigation and within confining regulations to ensue with the least impact and the most efficiency to harvest the resource and reclaim the land – which, BTW, I don’t think any ski resort has ever had to mitigate environmental impact or propose to reclaim the hundreds of thousands of acres of public land put to recreational use for the sake of capital investment and private profit.

What we need in South Park is for our County Commissioners to invite an industry specialist, such as the USGS or the Colorado Geological Survey to present the mineral resources as have been defined for this area by their respective departments of natural resources. Then, we need public support so these deposits can be located and utilized responsibly rather than allowing Joe Schmoe to build his family’s dream house on, say, one of the County’s uranium or coal or gold deposits.

SOLUTION:

One of the things the Park County Commissioners could do is invite a USGS or Colorado State Geologist to provide an enlightening presentation on the reality of mineral resources in Colorado, specific to Park County as has been done for Gilman County and Lake County. That is these surveys’ job — that is why we fund public geologic surveys to collect and analyze factual information. In my experience the Park County Commissioners are reasonable people interested in the facts. That is why we have public forums. Let’s got to it. If anyone wants to participate in the Conditions Use Permits, or provide their own opinion — you can visit the Park County website and write a letter to the Park County Commissioners at:

www.parkco.us

 

I like to think I am the kind of core logger who tries to make the best of it, even if I am partly unhappy. I say, I LIKE to think of myself that way because people have unique perceptions of who they think they are versus the way they act. Same goes for core loggers. They arrive like locust from the sky to a new exploration project with their duffel bags choked with gear and secret caches of expensive coffee, chocolate syrup, and a bottle of hooch. Some new core loggers walk with a swagger as if to say,

“Don’t try to teach me how to identify K-spar alteration – I know ALL ABOUT it.”

Some walk kind of mincey like a mouse trying to get from one corner to the other corner of the room without being exposed. The mousy core logger might be thinking,

‘I hope I don’t make a fool of myself when I see chalcopyrite, or sericitic alteration, or anhydrite – or is it gypsum???? Oh MY GOD! What have I got myself into?? I should never have taken this job!!!!!’

I remember something my friend Ron Steib told me in Greens Creek: “If the core doesn’t make you feel stupid, you aren’t trying.”

That is so true. Just when you get a grip on a certain rock type and alteration to the point you can recognize it without getting out of the truck, the lithology changes. What had been your nice friendly qz-feldspar porphyry that ran bountiful for hundreds of meters suddenly crosses some stratigraphic boundary a hundred leagues deep just shy of the front porch of Hell. The new rock is so different that it looks like a porphyry from another planet.

“Hornfels is a friend of mine,

Breccia is a Frankenstein,

When I see a monzonite,

I am always filled with fright.”

– Jerry Garcia, 2008

I don’t know what day it is but I came here six geologists ago. I measure time by the arrival and turn-over of geos. Last guy who left had survived 6 geologists coming and going before he flew the coop. We were keeping an eye on him: Suicide Watch. He really should have left sooner. I am overdue by one geo standing, now. I can only tell by what I have observed.

There is a big burly Russian geophysicist here who told me there are only five things to worry about: hunger; thirst; anger; lonely; tired – all of which can be addressed by yourself. One night we danced in the dirt out by the company trucks for about 40 seconds when his favorite song played. I was disappointed when it stopped. The next day I said as much and he stood to face me with his hands on his hips and then pointed to the sky, “There will be more dancing!!” Then, he left.

A Chilean geo is due to return, as will the next one who has yet to leave. We recently lost a Drill Boss and a Camp Director but a new Drill Boss arrived (one who speaks French!) The Camp Director may return after evaluating the situation for face value (some people have preconceived ideas about what the camp is supposed to be, things like private rooms with private baths, DSL in their rooms, doors that close and peaceful solitude.)

We are missing a geotech and a go-fer (a guy who goes fer all the stuff the boss needs). They are A.W.O.L.. The camp cook has been taking time off too, which may be a bad sign. I don’t know what the issues are though there is always muttering (if one cares to listen) about food (I count the ears on the donkeys in town after some meals), noise (kids are experimenting with taking the mufflers off their “chopped” ATVs), music (at least 5 sources of polka going on at any one time), organization (it is interesting to take people from two different linguistic families and mix them all together with about 6,000 boxes of core to keep track of and then tell them to open each box and move them all around on tables and shelves…), beds / linens / pillows – (see pillow blog), etc.

Everyone has their own idea what could be better. As long as I am safe then that is what I mean by, “I like to think I am the kind of core logger who tries to make the best of it, even if I am partly unhappy.” The unhappy part is for me to solve according to the dancing Russian geophysicist.

Sinaloa, March? Friday? 2008  I ran away from my company, from corporate, from data and computers, sections and 43-101 reports. I wanted to log core and that is what I am doing.  I’m not saying where or for whom or what the type of mineralization it is, but I am in Mexico. Every morning I am up early before the “professores” as we geos are called (I love being called a “professore”). It is really cold in the morning you can see your breath. I wear my heavy coat. The dining room is a refrigerator so I go in the kitchen. The old Mexicans in their cowboy hats and some young drillers in baseball caps sit in ancient hand-hewn chairs around an old adobe stove that has huge logs sticking out of it like a campfire and the top of it is covered by the lid of an old oil can – long gone what ever residue was on it. The smoke was never too bad. It went straight up where I notice the eaves of the roof, the beams and the clay tiles don’t come completely flush with the tops of the walls. The smoke makes its way out the room by slipping through the gaps in the ceiling. Central in the kitchen was the adobe stove. On the side of the stove was a large, flat stone that had been used for likely the 120 years this town has been here. The stone was black from smoke and had a smooth shallow dip in it from years of being milled upon – this stone was like a basin and the ladies put farina (wheat flour) on the stone and use another smaller smooth stone to crush the farina into flour to make the tortillas. This apparatus was historic and I loved to imagine the hands of the many old and young women, sisters, cousins, mothers, daughters who made flour with it. This stone mill represented continuity in the community of traditions and family heritage.

The people in the kitchen smile the moment your head peeks around the corner (the entrances are tiny both because the people are small and also to keep the draft down so some of the household passages seem a bit like an underground mine, or as I had described before, I get a sense of a cloister for pious people.) Anyway, I am always warmed in the kitchen by both the ancient stove and the welcome of these people. We call ourselves “the family”.

One day, Bill sent me fetch water from the kitchen but he didn’t want a big jug of water and he didn’t want a little bottle of water, he wanted a medium jug of water. As I was walked across the yard to the kitchen I was reviewing what I would say in Spanish because the word for medium is very similar to the word for middle-of so I prepared my sentence so as not to confuse them. When I stuck my head into the kitchen I saw the old cowboys sitting around the ancient stove with plates of food, the two camp cooks were up to their elbows in bowls making something, another was sitting at a little preparation table with his plate of food: there was my family. They all stopped what they were doing as I held my hands up to the shape of about the size of jug Bill wanted so as to augment my request, I opened my mouth and started, “I need a…” but I stopped because I realized I had worked out the word for medium but the word for jug was very similar to the word for juice so I was hesitated in the middle of the sentence with my hands in the air in a mental stupor. I was stuck. I looked at their faces and they were all suspended in time with their spoons half the way to their faces, the ladies mixing motion was frozen in time, everyone was leaning toward me in the moment like statues waiting to hear WHAT I WANTED… I burst into laughter. They immediately melted into the warm old souls of humans that I love every day. We laughed together so hard we were crying. They kept mimicking me with their hands how I came in and made the size of a jug and we were bent over laughing it felt good to let that energy flow. The boss came to see, but we could hardly explain. You had to be there.

Yesterday, the stove was removed. A cold patch of new cement marks its spot where a new, modern stove will arrive to accommodate the size of the growing camp. This morning, my family and I stood with our arms linked together at the sorry site and commented on the many ages and families the old stove served. We agreed it was a bad idea but that we like the new hot water machine and that the new stove will be more efficient and clean. I would have been disturbed by this change if they weren’t with me to share this moment.

There is an underground drainage tunnel in the Leadville historical mining district, Lake County, Colorado that has been determined to be in a state of immediate threat of flooding. This situation is due to obstruction by collapsed material over time and subsequent damming of both mine discharge and ground water. This obstruction has formed a debris dam of ponded water estimated to be one billion gallons and its failure could result in catastrophic consequences that have prompted Lake County officials to declare a state of emergency.

If this unstructured dam fails without a controlled release, a subsequent flood could result in destruction of residences and potentially contaminate the headwaters of the Arkansas River with untreated water, part of which is derived from mine drainage. This situation is being monitored by the US Bureau of Reclamation and local county governments. However, if the effluent discharge contaminates the river then the impact will be disastrous not only for the environment, habitat and community of that region, but a discharge of untreated water into the river system will also adversely impact Colorado Mining – an industry that is currently under review and attack from a growing anti-mining forum in the state.

The dam is a result of collapsed material in an underground tunnel, which was constructed by the Bureau of Mines to provide drainage of seepage from some of the underground mine workings. The US Department of Reclamation acquired responsibility for the tunnel in 1959 with the intent of including the drainage water as part of the supply for the Frying Pan-Arkansas Project – river drainage systems used for recreation and water supply. The water contained metals, which discharged into the East Fork of the Arkansas. To bring the discharge into compliance with the Clean Water Act, a water treatment plant was constructed in March of 1992. However, this plant is not engineered to accommodate the conditions of flooding that seem to be immanent.

Local media are portraying this situation in an electrifying manner on the real basis of potentially life-threatening flooding.

Recently, the Geological Society of America presented an academic analysis by geologist, Michael Holmes, from the E.P.A. of same tunnel and addressed the alarming state of this structure:

“Data from the mine pool from the past decade show ominous rising ground-water levels and suggest that the efficiency of the drainage tunnel is declining. ” — HOLMES, Michael, U.S.EPA Region VIII, 999 18th Street, Suite 500, Denver, CO 80202, holmes.michael@epa.gov

The potential for catastrophic flooding is definitely a threat albeit not as alarming as the Vail Daily purports as a, “pool of contaminated water trapped by the collapse in the Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel,” and, “toxic acid and metal-laden water.” Rather, the nature of the water is currently being diluted by the natural spring and run-off. “This catchment is at an altitude of more than 3,000 - 4300 meters a.s.l. and thus contains a significant portion of snow and ice that, until this summer, was essentially perennial.” — Michael Holmes. (For general information on ground water and hardrock mining: http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2002AM/finalprogram/session_2770.htm)  Though the toxicity is likely not as lethal as the Vail Daily infers, the volume is a definite and serious threat.

“Ground seepage from increased snow levels is adding further pressure on the blockage,” said Polly White of the Colorado Division of Emergency Management.”

The threat of catastrophic flooding in this situation is very real. Failure of the underground dam threatens not only to flood the vicinity of Leadville but also contaminate the Arkansas River, which would be a terrible environmental disaster that you can bet the public will hold the mining industry liable though the mining industry neither built the tunnel, nor manages it. The tunnel is a Bureau of Reclamation project and their staff is addressing this situation, apparently under accusations by local community of waiting too long.

Denver Mining Club hosted a pictorial essay by Dr. Daniel Harrison, “Photo Tour of Colorado Mining History – When Mining Was King of the Mountain.” After all the technical talks that have recently been presented at the meetings, (uranium metallurgy, in-situ uranium mining, Henderson / Climax Mine), it was nice to view and appreciate the beautiful imagery of Colorado’s Rocky Mountain High in many familiar settings — but with the additional benefit of historical mining.

I used to write for Mountain Gazette. They published my stories for seven years. Last Christmas, the new publisher of MG published a full-page ad with a vehemently strong anti-mining message. As a result, MG and MM diverged paths. Fortunately, Jack Caldwell and Michael McCrae, (InfoMine staff) helped me create a blog for a new outlet.

However, the task of both living and recreating in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains AND working in the mining industry in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains is often so controversial to the mainstream of backpacking, river kayaking, telemark skiing, fly fishing non-miners, that I avoid writing on the topic of mining. This issue has been cropping up to the point I can’t avoid it any longer. I too backpack, hike, kayak, telemark ski, snowshoe, mountain bike, fly fish and live in the mountains. However, I love mining. That said, Dan Harrison’s photo essay reminded me of an article in Mountain Gazette by Brendan Leonard that mentions legend Colorado miner, Maury Reiber and other mining men on the topic of public access. The article brings some points of contention to the surface but not in an acrid tone of voice. What is missing from the article is the historic context of the district and why Maury bought the Present Help silver mine at the top of 14,286-foot Mount Lincoln in the first place.

A historic mining district is not only a dangerous place for unaware adventurers – but the artifacts are also in danger of being pilfered or damaged. Dan Harrison’s photo essay captures many buildings, head-frames, boilers, hoist-pulleys that no longer exist – have collapsed or were removed. One of the most significant aspects of the photo tour was the beauty of seeing these artifacts in place and realizing the elevation is over 10,000 feet above sea level in some cases above 12,000 feet. Historic mine camps emanate the fascinating spirit of pioneering people. They didn’t have Patagonia Capilene-4 thermo-insulate underwear, no NorthFace fleece, not even a thermally dynamic coffee mug. In dire circumstances, these miners lived and worked under very adverse conditions in clap-board cabins and mills.

 Perhaps our Rocky Mountain hikers, standing there with self-preservation gear and the necessary accoutrement for accessing these areas also appreciate the history and are moved in respect for the amazing feats of human endeavor in historic mine workings? Perhaps, a Rocky Mountain backpacker would feel a sincere reverence to sit next to Maury Reiber himself, or his partner, Ben L. Wright, Jr. — aged 85, (both of whom move me), especially as the slides showed historic mines sites that brought murmurs and stirring in the room full of men who have devoted their lives to preserving and possibly utilizing these historic sites again one day should their legs ever carry them one more time up the mountain.

In any case, it is extremely dangerous to hike in a historic mining district. That said, I bet any of these mining men (including Maury) would be delighted to show their properties or share their heritage with those who sincerely appreciate the mining aspect of the district. Heads-up — if you venture to share an anti-mining point of view with one of these seasoned professionals, you will likely be educated beyond your expectations.