Confidential Client, Mining

One of our professional staff managed field investigations at a former mercury mine Superfund site under United States Environmental Protection Agency Region IX oversight requiring preparation of a storm water sampling plan, a sediment sampling plan to characterize waste rock and tailing piles, and a gaseous springs sampling plan to establish the extent to which hydrogen sulfide and other gases are assimilating into a surface water body.

Our professional staff member performed chemical speciation and reaction path modeling of a complex hydrothermal system using the United States Geological Survey codes PHREEQE and WATEQ4F to evaluate the impacts of backfilling a mine pit that was filled with water derived from both a geothermal spring and ground water, with mercury mine tailing and gangue.

Various Mining Locations

Senior project managers have extensive experience in mining permitting under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA) which is the primary federal law that regulates the environmental effects of coal mining in the United States. This act established strict environmental requirements for mine permitting, operation and reclamation. Control of sediment from disturbed lands and reclamation to geomorphically stable land forms was the focus of two of our senior professionals while they were employed by national mining concerns including the Exxon affiliate Carter Mining Company.

Work was performed throughout areas in Zone 5 including Wyoming, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. Areas of expertise included mining project permitting with respect to water quality and quantity, geomorphology, dam and embankment design and engineering, and design of alternate sediment and runoff control facilities.

We were responsible for evaluation of surface water and ground water data from mining properties in Wyoming. We supervised mine-site hydrologic and geomorphic data collection and evaluation for compliance with state and federal permits, designed and secured permits for sedimentation ponds, diversion ditches, and alternate sediment control structures in Wyoming, and developed pre-mining geomorphic baseline data for three Wyoming mining properties for use in development of predicted geomorphically stable post mining topographies.