From: on behalf of Panel Registry Subject: FW: TNG registration of ...

Stratus Consulting Memorandum (4/16/2010)
exceed surface water and groundwater quality standards, despite predicting that they would not
exceed any water quality standards.
3.2 Other Case Studies
Dr. Maest may also discuss examples from other mines, including the following:
�� Berkeley Pit in Butte, Montana. Dr. Maest has analyzed this highly contaminated openpit
copper mine extensively, including an analysis of the sources of contamination
(Maest, 2001). The rock walls in the Berkeley Pit generate enough acid and metals to
result in a pit lake with a pH of 2, copper concentrations at least three orders of
magnitude greater than water quality criteria, contaminant concentrations sufficient to kill
migrating snow geese who used the lake as a stopover (Adams, 1995), and a need for
expensive water treatment in perpetuity.
�� Harvard Pit in Jamestown, California. The water model developed for this pit lake in the
mid-1990s estimated that it would reach an elevation of 387 m in 2025, with water not
reaching the 402-m level of the alluvial aquifer until many years later. In fact, the water
level reached 387 m in 2008 and is now predicted to reach the alluvial aquifer in 2015
(Mullenmeister, 2009). Expensive, perpetual water treatment will be required to prevent
releases of this contaminated water, and the posted bond is far less than the actual cost.
�� Buckhorn Mountain Mine, Okanogan Valley, Washington (near BC border). Dr. Maest
has been an active participant in the review of mine management and water quality at this
mine, on behalf of the Okanagan Highlands Alliance. Buckhorn Mountain Mine was
originally designed as an open pit mine but failed to obtain a permit. Crown Resources, a
subsidiary of Canadian mining company Kinross, purchased the property and redesigned
it as an underground mine. Even with this reduced impact design, Crown was discharging
mine contaminants at concentrations in excess of its water quality permit within one year
after the start of mining, resulting in numerous violations of their water discharge permits
(see, e.g., Washington Department of Ecology, 2009a, 2009b, 2009c, 2009d). They
underestimated metals leaching from mine workings, the amount of PAG rock, and the
effectiveness of their groundwater capture system. After one year of operation, they were
required to extensively augment their groundwater capture system and completely
redesign their water treatment system.
�� Ray Mine, Ray, Arizona. Both the Maest-Kuipers report and Stratus Consulting have
evaluated the impacts of this open pit porphyry copper mine. In the 1990s it released
ammonia, copper, and arsenic into the Gila River such that water quality criteria were
exceeded for up to 80 km downstream of the mine, with some samples containing mine-
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