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Acid spills from eastern Arizona mine into creek
56 commentsNov. 1, 2008 02:29 PM
Associated Press
TUCSON - Tens of thousands of gallons of a corrosive acid solution spilled out of a copper mine near Morenci into a creek, but mine workers were able to stop it from entering the San Francisco River.
The 168,000 gallon spill from the Freeport McMoran Copper and Gold mine in eastern Arizona's Greenlee County flowed about two miles down the creek before mine workers were able to build four earthen dams and stop it about 120 feet from the river.
The flow of the deep blue, foul-smelling, copper-sulfuric- acid blend was contained within an hour of the spill's discovery early Thursday afternoon, said Ray Pini, city manager of neighboring Clifton.
Authorities hadn't determined the spill's cause late Friday. State Department of Environmental Quality officials were investigating to see if the mining company had violated state water quality laws.
The sulfuric acid solution is used to leach copper out of copper ore and is harmful if swallowed, can cause severe skin and eye burns and may harm aquatic life, a safety report on the compound that Pini obtained from a Greenlee County Homeland Security officer.
The mining company has pumped the contaminated liquid from the creek and started to haul away contaminated soil, a Freeport spokesman said.
"We apologize to citizens of Clifton, to anyone disturbed by this activity. We're distressed that this incident occurred. We will revise our practices and other operations to make sure it doesn't occur again," Freeport spokesman Richard Peterson said Friday afternoon.
Peterson said the spill was caused by human error.
Pini said the spill would have been a serious discharge into the San Francisco, a tributary of the Gila River where some local residents catch catfish, if the company hadn't acted quickly.
The spill shows that while mining companies often say that the days of mining-related contamination have passed due to new technologies, "the bottom line is that it is still a messy, messy business," said environmentalist Sandy Bahr, conservation outreach director for the Sierra Club's Grand Canyon chapter
56 commentsNov. 1, 2008 02:29 PM
Associated Press
TUCSON - Tens of thousands of gallons of a corrosive acid solution spilled out of a copper mine near Morenci into a creek, but mine workers were able to stop it from entering the San Francisco River.
The 168,000 gallon spill from the Freeport McMoran Copper and Gold mine in eastern Arizona's Greenlee County flowed about two miles down the creek before mine workers were able to build four earthen dams and stop it about 120 feet from the river.
The flow of the deep blue, foul-smelling, copper-sulfuric- acid blend was contained within an hour of the spill's discovery early Thursday afternoon, said Ray Pini, city manager of neighboring Clifton.
Authorities hadn't determined the spill's cause late Friday. State Department of Environmental Quality officials were investigating to see if the mining company had violated state water quality laws.
The sulfuric acid solution is used to leach copper out of copper ore and is harmful if swallowed, can cause severe skin and eye burns and may harm aquatic life, a safety report on the compound that Pini obtained from a Greenlee County Homeland Security officer.
The mining company has pumped the contaminated liquid from the creek and started to haul away contaminated soil, a Freeport spokesman said.
"We apologize to citizens of Clifton, to anyone disturbed by this activity. We're distressed that this incident occurred. We will revise our practices and other operations to make sure it doesn't occur again," Freeport spokesman Richard Peterson said Friday afternoon.
Peterson said the spill was caused by human error.
Pini said the spill would have been a serious discharge into the San Francisco, a tributary of the Gila River where some local residents catch catfish, if the company hadn't acted quickly.
The spill shows that while mining companies often say that the days of mining-related contamination have passed due to new technologies, "the bottom line is that it is still a messy, messy business," said environmentalist Sandy Bahr, conservation outreach director for the Sierra Club's Grand Canyon chapter
