Out of Adversity Comes Opportunity

The 2009 annual coordination meeting to discuss the Buckhorn Mines took place at the Eagle Cliff Grange on the bank of the Kettle River on March 17th. Final monitoring reports were distributed to the agencies and OHA on March 3rd. OHA’s consultant, Ann Maest of Stratus Consulting, presented our review of the documents along with an independent review of the monitoring data. OHA offered recommendations regarding water treatment, streamflow comparison, capture zone, development rock, the Kettle River Facility, discharge monitoring reports and composite database as well as the timing of the next annual reports.

The purpose of the annual coordination meeting is to review the hydrogeologic and water quality monitoring of the mine and suggest modifications to plans that will help ensure protection of the environment.

The Department of Ecology, Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the USDA Forest Service, Kinross and OHA attended the meeting. 

This year’s evaluation is based on Water Year (WY) 2009, which began on September 31, 2008 and ended on October, 1, 2009. WY 2009 reports were much improved over last year’s reports. The reports were well organized and for the most part addressed the issues directly, spelling out the requirements early.

Shortly after last year’s annual meeting, numerous violations, orders and a $40,000 fine were issued to Kinross/Crown for various water quality violations and failure to maintain the mine’s capture zone. The violations and orders continued until August when improvements to the Water Treatment Facility were implemented. Since that time no violations have been issued.

Summary Findings

• Water Treatment Plant improvements and approach were positive – more improvements needed

• A number of sites are adversely affected by underground mine and/or treated water releases; WY 2010 will show if improved –None of the levels are alarming

• No large decreases in streamflows, but methods for estimating changes and meteorologic data need improvement

• Groundwater capture has not been demonstrated – seasonal variability in groundwater levels overwhelms drawdown signal at many of the wells