Tunnel Fire Sparks Fear Of Mine Disaster

CRANDON-- When a train carrying hazardous chemicals through a tunnel beneath the city of Baltimore derailed, caught fire and leaked acids this month, it begged a question.Could something similar happen with the estimated 7-tons-per-month of sodium cyanide Nicolet Minerals Co. intends to move to the site of a proposed copper and zinc mine near Crandon?

"Transportation, in fact, is one of our primary concerns," said Zoltan Grossman, co-founder of the Wolf-Watershed Education Project.Nicolet Minerals plans to use the cyanide to separate ore from rock. Grossman said most mining-related cyanide disasters worldwide have been transportation related, and that's one more good reason to oppose the project. "Murphy's Law says if something can go wrong, it will go wrong" he said.

Nicolet Minerals spokesman Dale Alberts said fears of a transportation-related cyanide accident are ill-founded.

"Even though there have been accidents where trucks slipped off the road, there's been no environmental release of cyanide from a transportation accident -- none," he said.At least 22 people were treated for respiratory problems in the July 18 acid spill in Baltimore.In an accident on April 5, a truck carrying liquid sodium cyanide bound for a gold mine ran off U.S. 85 near Lead, S.D. The driver, who had been drinking, was charged with reckless driving. No cyanide leaked from the double-walled tanker truck.

Alberts said the company plans to move cyanide to the mine by truck in solid briquette form, and that lessens the chances of a spill in case of an accident. The briquettes will be shipped in waterproof bags inside steel containers, he said.The cyanide will be delivered by the manufacturer and not moved on Nicolet Minerals trucks, Alberts said. "We haven't selected a supplier yet, so I don't know where it will come from," he said.

The state Department of Natural Resources hasn't yet granted permits for the mine. Jeff Schimpff, a DNR environmental impact specialist who's working on the mine proposal, said his agency wouldn't regulate movement of cyanide to the mine site. "We have no authority to do that under the mining laws," he said.Regulation of hazardous chemicals on roadways rests with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Ray Lukesic, state program specialist for the administration, said cyanide shippers face a host of special regulations " including a requirement to provide hazardous materials training to drivers. "The training the company gives must be function-specific training for that specific hazardous material," Lukesic said.

But mine opponent and town of Nashville Chairman Chuck Sleeter isn't convinced. "The company will tell you it will be hauled by trained hazardous waste drivers, and the equipment is going to be top-of-the line," he said. "But the reality is that, in the real world, this kind of thing is contracted to the lowest bidder."

A bill now pending in the Legislature would ban the use of cyanide in mining in Wisconsin. Alberts called the legislation a "political and hypocritical travesty" and said the Crandon mine was being unfairly singled out for its use of cyanide."It's used every day by 50 companies located in 17 Wisconsin counties," Alberts said. "It's transported all over our highways, every day, every week, all year long."According to information from the federal Environmental Protection Agency, a Green Bay company " Ultra Plating Corp. " is one of the 50.

But the Green Bay company, like others that use cyanide, measures its use in pounds, not tons."The amount is dramatically different" with the proposed Crandon mine, Grossman said, adding that he's unconvinced that precautions will prevent a spill. "Not really" if you think about icy roads in the winter, of trucks jackknifing and going into ditches filled with water," he said.

Sleeter said many roads in the mine area are winding and in poor repair, such as Wisconsin 55, which parallels the Wolf River for many miles."In this country, there isn't a quarter of a mile that there isn't a stream or a lake or a wetland," Sleeter said. "If this stuff gets into them, we've got real problems."

But Alberts said that if enacted, the cyanide-in-mining ban wouldn't keep the chemical off roads. "There will still be sodium cyanide and all kinds of other chemicals going up and down our highways and railways," he said.Alberts vowed to keep fighting for state approval of the mine. "We believe we're going to build the best mine in the world and set a new standard for the industry," he said. "There are a lot of good things about this mine that Madison politicians don't see and don't understand."

Committee passes cyanide ban in mines

A Wisconsin legislative proposal to ban the use of cyanide in mining passed the Senate Environmental Resources Committee by a vote of 4-1.

The committee rejected arguments by the state mining company seeking approval for a zinc and copper mine in Crandon in northern Wisconsin in proffering its recommendation for the Senate to pass Senate Bill 160, banning the use of cyanide in state mines.

The Nicolet Minerals Co., a subsidiary of Toronto-based Rio Algom Ltd., argued that the use of cyanide in the mining process to be used in Crandon will be safe and has never caused environmental degradation.

The company also argued that low levels of cyanide exist in some foods and that the cyanide levels produced by the Crandon mine would be similarly low.

The Environmental Resources Committee, however, rejected those arguments in light of evidence of cyanide contamination of the environment in previous cases. The committee also considered evidence that fish and wildlife possess lower levels of cyanide tolerance than humans.

"The committee did not accept the misleading statements and half-truths used by the Nicolet Minerals Co. to fight (Senate Bill) 160," said Dave Blouin, mining chairman for the environmental advocacy group Sierra Club-John Muir Chapter in Madison. "We are convinced that SB 160 is sound mining policy that will help safeguard our environment from unsafe mining practices designed to maximize profits for foreign mining companies."

The bill is a companion to Assembly Bill 95 which also seeks to ban cyanide use in mining. The proposal still requires approval by the state legislature.

Madison, Wis. (AP) - A Nicolet Minerals Co. spokesman reacted angrily Friday to a state Senate committee's decision to recommend passage of legislation to ban the use of cyanide in mining metals.

"It is just dirty Spencer Black politics," Dale Alberts said, referring to the Madison representative who sponsored the bill. "It is nothing but a cheap Spencer Black attempt to stop our mining project."

Black, Democratic minority leader of the Assembly, said the attack on him is the mining company's attempt to make it a personal fight rather than a fight on the issues.

"Twelve million tons of cyanide in the headwaters of the Wolf River - I would try and engage in personal attacks and not want to talk about the issue too," he said.

The Senate Environmental Resources Committee voted 4-1 Thursday to recommend the full Senate pass the measure, which supporters hope would, in effect, kill plans by Nicolet Minerals for an underground zinc and copper mine near Crandon. Plans call for use of a water-based cyanide solution in the process.

The company is seeking local, state and federal permits for the mine. After seven years, a state review of the project is only 75 percent complete.

Voting to ban cyanide in metallic mining were Sens. Jim Baumgart, D-Sheboygan; Dave Hanson, D-Green Bay; Bob Wirch, D-Kenosha; and Robert Cowles, R-Green Bay. The lone dissenting vote was Sen. Dale Schultz, R-Richland Center.

Alberts called the vote a sad day for Wisconsin politics. "We proved beyond a shadow of a doubt to that committee that there was no scientific or technical merit to that legislation. ... The facts apparently don't matter. It was just pure politics," he said in a telephone interview from Crandon.

Alberts said the four senators who favored the bill were hypocrites because all have facilities in their districts that use sodium or potassium cyanide, "every week, all year long."

Baumgart, chairman of the Senate committee, said it was fair to question the potential effects of using cyanide near the headwaters of one of the state's most scenic rivers, versus manufacturing taking place in an industrial area.

"Everybody is entitled to call people what they want. I prefer to say we agree to disagree," Baumgart said. "It is a sign they can be more mean-spirited and that is unfortunate."

Alberts on Friday repeated earlier criticism of the bill: that environmentalists are trying to frighten lawmakers into passing a ban that is not needed to protect the area or keep pollution from the Wolf River.

Mines where cyanide spills have occurred used an open-pit mining method. Crandon would not have open pits but would use an indoor facility where ore would be treated in a water-based cyanide solution.

Black said he was pleased by the bipartisan support for his bill, saying it indicated an "increasing recognition" that the mining company is a threat to the state.

Dave Blouin, a spokesman for the Sierra Club-John Muir Chapter said the cyanide ban would help safeguard the environment. He said the four senators who voted for it were "putting our local tourism economy and environment before mining company profits."

Gus Frank, chairman of the Potawatomi Tribe in Forest County, said using cyanide was not worth any risk of harm to the environment. "No mining company can ensure that pipes will never leak, pumps will never break, trucks will never crash, landfills will never leak and floods will never occur," the tribal leader said.

Alberts said he was unsure of the bill's fate in the full Senate but worried that the fear tactics being used "can cause a stampede." "It is frustrating becoming a perennial political football but that is what our project has become," he said.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) - A state Senate committee has passed a bill that would ban the use of cyanide in mining metals.

The Senate Environmental Resources Committee voted 4-1 Thursday to recommend the full Senate pass the measure, which supporters hope would, in effect, kill plans by Nicolet Minerals Co. for an underground copper and zinc mine near Crandon.

The company is seeking local, state and federal permits for the mine. After seven years, a state review of the project is only 75 percent complete.

Voting to ban cyanide in metallic mining were Sens. Jim Baumgart, D-Sheboygan; Dave Hanson, D-Green Bay; Bob Wirch, D-Kenosha; and Robert Cowles, R-Green Bay. The lone dissenting vote was Sen. Dale Schultz, R-Richland Center.

Nicolet Minerals, a subsidiary of London-based Billiton Plc, said environmentalists are trying to frighten lawmakers into passing a ban that is not needed to protect the area or keep pollution from the nearby Wolf River.

Mines where the cyanide spills have occurred used an open-pit mining method where ore is piled into a heap and sprayed with a cyanide solution that separates the metal from the rocks. The solution is recovered at the bottom of the heap and then piped through a process that separates the metals from cyanide.

Crandon would not have open pits. Instead, it would use an indoor facility where ore would be treated in a water-based cyanide solution, the company said.

Dale Alberts, a spokesman for Nicolet Minerals, did not immediately return a telephone message for comment Friday. Dave Blouin, a spokesman for the Sierra Club-John Muir Chapter, said the cyanide ban would help safeguard the environment. He praised the four senators who voted for the bill for "putting our local tourism economy and environment before mining company profits."

Gus Frank, chairman of the Potawatomi Tribe in Forest County, said using cyanide was not worth the possible risk of harm to the environment. "No mining company can ensure that pipes will never leak, pumps will never break, trucks will never crash, landfills will never leak and floods will never occur," the tribal leader said.

The bill number is SB160

Dear Editor,

In last week's paper, Dale Alberts of the Australian/British/South African-owned Nicolet Minerals Co. (NMC) accused state residents who are demanding that cyanide be banned at Wisconsin mines of "misinformation, fear mongering and harassment." The facts show who is really trying to mislead us about the need for the ban on cyanide in Wisconsin mining - operatives for a mining company bent on generating profits for its foreign owners.

There is no 70-year history of safe cyanide use in U.S. mining. Until 1976, the industry's wastes and discharges weren't even regulated, let alone routinely monitored for safety. This claim is blindly repeated by our state DNR and it is wrong and misleading. There is simply no evidence to support this claim.

What about more recent use? NMC claims that there are no incidents of environmental problems from the type of ore processing it will use. Wrong again. One recently closed zinc/lead mine in Colorado that used the same cyanide ore flotation process NMC proposes was a repeat offender. In 1994, the EPA reported that the Black Cloud mine, "consistently exceeded discharge limitations for total suspended solids, cyanide, zinc, and manganese," and that the discharge was shown to be toxic to aquatic life. Permit records show that Black Cloud continued to discharge cyanide above permitted levels, failing seven more quarterly monitoring tests for cyanide in the mid-`90's.

Do other Wisconsin companies use sodium cyanide? Yes, but in much smaller quantities and under much stricter regulations than for mining. In 1999 (most recent records), only three WI companies reported enough cyanide use to report cyanide wastes to the federal Toxic Release Inventory (TRI). Two reported wastes of 2500 pounds or less. The third reported approximately 48,000 pounds of cyanide wastes, or one-tenth of the amount that NMC could use at the mine each year - up to 480,000 pounds. TRI records show that the few companies using cyanide use cyanide destruction technology or ship their cyanide wastes to waste handlers who do - something NMC will not do.

NMC's demand to be treated like other state industry using cyanide is an insult to everyone concerned about protecting our resources. Other state companies using cyanide do not landfill cyanide wastes as NMC proposes to do in its waste dump and in the abandoned mine. This is because mining is exempt from hazardous waste laws, even if its wastes contain cyanide. Other state industry is simply not allowed to do the same. Mining also is allowed to pollute groundwater in a much greater amounts than any other industry in the state - another example of special treatment for mining wastes. If NMC really wants to be treated like other state companies using cyanide, it would support repeal of the hazardous waste exemption for mining wastes and would comply with the more protective groundwater standards that apply to all other industry in Wisconsin. Since we all know this will not happen, NMC's demand is nonsense, designed to cloud the issues and confuse residents.

NMC claims that its mining wastes will consist of a different form of cyanide - iron cyanide - sometimes used in road salt. It also claims that this is a stable and non-toxic cyanide compound - just like the cyanide going into its mine wastes. The fact is that iron cyanide is hardly safe and non-toxic. It breaks down into the most dangerous form of cyanide, free cyanide, if exposed to sunlight. Last year, Environment Canada, (Canada's EPA) determined that road salt containing iron cyanide was toxic. It found that road salt contaminates ground water, surface water, poisons wildlife and harms vegetation.

NMC doesn't want to talk about the amounts and kinds of cyanide in its waste dump, where the cyanide concentrations will be more than one thousand times as much as what is proposed to be dumped in wastes in the abandoned mine. Cyanide-polluted wastewater kills or injures birds and other wildlife that come in contact with it and could decimate fish and other aquatic life should the tailings dump overflow or leak into Ground Hemlock and Swamp Creeks.

NMC's plan to deal with wildlife coming in contact with the waste dump is no plan at all. It would wait until bodies are found and then devise a plan. And the waste dump will eventually leak, and could easily spill or overflow causing catastrophes as we've seen repeatedly at mines out west and around the world.

NMC can't run away from the mining industry's horrible track record on cyanide use. All hardrock mining, whether for gold or for zinc, use the same basic methods. A review of more than 60 cyanide releases in Montana from 1982 to 1998 reveals that more than half were caused by liner system leaks, waste spills or overflows, human error or accidents, or storm events. NMC's claim to be immune from these kinds of problems cannot be taken seriously. For example, look at the track record of one of NMC's owners. A pipeline rupture at the BHP San Manuel mine in Arizona spilled more than 14,000 lbs. of sulfuric acid in 1998. NMC is not even responsible for transportation accidents should cyanide be spilled while being trucked to the mine site -- a fact that Wisconsin regulators acknowledge.

No amount of mining industry rhetoric can change the fact that the mining industry track record with cyanide shows that it is simply too dangerous to use. Other states have had to learn the hard way - we don't have to.

Senate Bill 160 and its companion, Assembly Bill 95 will ensure that cyanide is not used by a poorly regulated mining industry to generate profits for foreign owners. Please contact your legislators toll-free at 800-362-9472 and ask that he or she support the bill to ban cyanide in mining. More information on the Wisconsin Campaign to Ban Cyanide in Mining can be found at: http://www.alphacdc.com/treaty/cyanide.html or mail to: PO Box 14382, Madison, WI 53714

Sincerely,
Dave Blouin
Wisconsin Campaign to Ban Cyanide in Mining

MADISON - Mining opponents have a new plan for blocking a proposed mine south of Crandon - pushing for a legislative ban on the use of cyanide, a chemical commonly used in mining metals.

Supporters of the bill are betting that a statute prohibiting the use of cyanide would, in effect, kill plans by Nicolet Minerals Co. for an underground copper and zinc mine at the Forest County site.

The company is seeking local, state and federal permits for the mine. After seven years, a state review of the project is only 75 percent complete.

Rep. Spencer Black, D-Madison, one of the bill's sponsors, said spills of cyanide at other mines, including one last year in Romania that contaminated the Tisza and Danube rivers, prove the ban is needed.

"This bill's very simple," Black told members of the Senate Environmental Resources Committee Thursday. "It's a tool for a clean environment."

But a representative for Nicolet, a subsidiary of London-based Billiton Plc, said environmentalists are trying to frighten lawmakers into passing a ban that isn't needed to protect the area or keep pollution from the nearby Wolf River.

Mines where the cyanide spills have occurred used an open-pit mining method where ore is piled into a heap and sprayed with a cyanide solution that separates the metal from the rocks. The solution is recovered at the bottom of the heap and then piped through a process that separates the metals from cyanide.

Open-pit mining was banned in Montana by a 1998 voter referendum. Crandon would not have open pits. Instead, it would use an indoor facility where ore would be treated in a water-based cyanide solution, said Debra Struhsacker, a consultant for Nicolet.

Once the mineral has been collected, bubbles from an agitator would lift the mineral to the top of the tank as froth, where it would be removed. The mining facility will be built to contain any chemical spills, Struhsacker said.

Larry Lynch, mining team leader for the Department of Natural Resources, said the proposed legislative ban on cyanide doesn't distinguish between those two mining methods. Open-pit mining is difficult to control, while the flotation method, where the chemical is diluted, presents little risk of dangerous levels of cyanide being released into the environment, Lynch said.

But several residents said they don't want the poisonous substance coming anywhere near their communities or traveling by truck on their roadways. "That scares us," Forest County Potawatomi Tribal Chairman Gus Frank said. "We all know too well that truck is going off the road."

Nicolet would transport seven tons of cyanide a month to its mine in the form of solid briquettes that dissolve in liquid, officials said.

In nearby Nashville, the town board is appealing a judge's ruling that found a 1996 agreement between the town and Nicolet Minerals was valid. "The mining company is only responsible for spills inside that fence. The rest of it's ours," Nashville Town Chairman Chuck Sleeter said.

Nicolet Minerals sued the town after mine opponents elected to the board in 1997 rescinded the agreement, which authorized the necessary local permits for the project.

The Senate committee did not vote on the bill Thursday.

The bill number is SB160.

Perhaps you've noticed the lack of news about the Crandon mine lately. I wondered why, remembering the old movie line, "It's quiet ... too quiet." Then I realized this is an election year. "Ah-haaaaa!" sez I. The mine folks and their Republican toadies in our Legislature don't want us to remember any under-the-table dealings during the season of Baffle and Buffalo.

I, on the other hand, would like to inform people of the latest assault by the mine boys. Now there is cyanide to be concerned about. This deadly poison can be fatal to humans in amounts as low as 40 to 200 parts per million. It is fatal to both rainbow and brown trout at levels of 20 to 80 parts per billion.

Those of you who watched the recent cable TV presentation about the war crimes trials at Nuremberg may have seen how Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering cheated the hangman by biting into a cyanide capsule that had been secreted in his briefcase. Death took only seconds. This is some serious stuff that works quickly in low doses.

Our "friends" at Rio Algom and Nicolet Minerals are planning to transport up to 20 tons of cyanide to the Crandon mine monthly. There should be lots of concern about the transportation and the use of this poison. Within the last six years, we've had many spills, including a huge chemical spill in Superior and a propane spill in Weyauwega. Both accidents rocked their respective communities.

We already had enough problems with this mine, from sulfuric acid drainage to falling lake and groundwater levels to economic concerns. We already know that when the oxygen in groundwater combines with the sulfur in rock, sulfuric acid is formed. When that acid gets into our groundwater or into the Wolf or Wisconsin rivers, it will destroy fish populations (read: tourist dollars) and the value of riverside property.

Water will be pumped from the mine, to the tune of more than 1.5 million gallons per day. The drawdown of groundwater will likely affect lake levels in Northeast Wisconsin. The value of your idyllic getaway on the lake won't be the same when the lake that made your haven so special becomes a mere puddle.

Then we have the boom and bust cycles experienced in every mining town. When metals prices go up, so do housing prices. When metals prices go down, so do property values. If you own a home when metals prices fall, the value of your home will drop dramatically.

The mine may close and local economies will suffer, but your property taxes will stay the same. Hark! A vicious circle doth approach!

The most disturbing part of this story is that Wisconsin's democracy is being stolen by legislators with weak or missing morals, led astray by campaign contributions from mining companies and their ilk. Lobbying groups are about to set new records for spending. This is another in a series of warning signs that the government you lose may be your own.

For more information on the cyanide threat to Wisconsin's rivers, check out the Web site www.greenbaynewschron.com/forum/crandon.html.

Could a cyanide accident at the proposed Crandon mine cause the same kind of devastation as the recent cyanide spill in the Tisa and Danube rivers in Eastern Europe?

Absolutely, say five Wisconsin environmental groups, who Wednesday called for a ban of the poisonous chemical at the Crandon site in Forest County so that state residents never have to fear such a possibility.

But Bill Tans, the Crandon mine coordinator for the state Department of Natural Resources, cautioned that the situations were starkly different and that the possibility of such a disaster in the Wolf River basin was "pretty remote."

He joked that the odds were about the same as an atomic bomb explosion at the site, but quickly added, "I'm just being silly. I guess there's always a possibility of anything you can theorize. But the risk (at the Crandon site) is certainly very, very tiny."

The reason, Tans said, is that the sodium cyanide used in the extraction process at the Baia Mare gold mine in northwestern Romania was stored in holding ponds that overflowed Jan. 30 because of unusually heavy rains and snow. The poison destroyed virtually all aquatic life in the Tisa River, then flowed west into Hungary and then into the stretch of the Danube that runs through Yugoslavia.

The sodium cyanide that would be used in the vat leaching process at Crandon would be stored in a concrete facility at an enclosed mill at the mine site, Tans said.

"The fact that the two mines involve cyanide is really the only continuity between the two," he said.

He called the Eastern Europe spill one of the worst environmental disasters imaginable, but added, "Who knows what the environmental controls are in Romania? My guess is they are probably very lax."

However, Dave Blouin of Wisconsin's Mining Impact Coalition said that because cyanide is such a deadly chemical--"Just half a teaspoon can kill a human," he noted--even a minor spill by a "careless worker" could have serious consequences.

An even greater concern, he said, was the possibility of an accident involving trucks or railroad cars that would transport "massive quantities" of sodium cyanide to the Crandon site.

He also pointed out that Nicolet Minerals Co., a subsidiary of Rio Algom Ltd. of Toronto, which is seeking state and federal permits to extract 55 million tons of mostly zinc and copper from the underground mine, still hasn't indicated what it plans to do with the spent cyanide used in the extraction process.

"It makes no economic sense for the mining company to transport it to a refinery somewhere else," he said. "So the question becomes, what will it do with the stuff?"

Tans acknowledged that even a small spill at the storage site would be reason for concern but suggested it could be "dealt with appropriately with sump pumps" that drain into a concerete containment facility.

He also agreed that transporting sodium cyanide and other highly toxic materials is potentially hazardous. But he compared it to the risk of hauling diesel fuel and gasoline in tanker trucks on crowded highways.

"There a certain risk that they'll tip over and burst into flames as well," he said.

Blouin said the disaster in Eastern Europe confirmed what many environmentalists have been saying all along: That the risks involved with mining operations just aren't worth it. Which is why, he said, the Wisconsin Legislature passed the mining moratorium bill two years ago.

"To me, it's inconceivable that you'd want to take this kind of risk in such an ecologically sensitive area," he said. "It's clear now that even if a miniscule amount of cyanide got into Swamp Creek or the Wolf River, it would be absolutely catastrophic."

Besides the Mining Impact Coalition, environmental groups calling for the cyanide ban were Northern Thunder, the Wisconsin Resources Protection Council, the Midwest Treaty Network/Wolf Watershed Educational Project, and Wisconsin's Environmental Decade.

 

ENVIRONMENTAL ADVOCACY RESOURCES

• New Cyanide Leach Mining Information Packet:
  http://www.mineralpolicy.org/files/Cyanide_Leach_Packet.pdf
  We have just updated our Cyanide Leach Mining Information Packet. This information packet is designed to give readers a closer look at cyanide and the leaching process used in mining. It provides useful information from Cyanide Uncertainties, TRI, ATSDR "ToxFAQS", The Washington Post, and includes several fact sheets. To receive a copy, please email us at mpc@mineralpolicy.org or call us at (202) 887-1872. It can also be viewed and downloaded from the above link, and should be on our website within the next few days.
  Mineral Policy Center Protecting Communities and the Environment
  1612 K St., NW, Suite 808, Washington, D.C. 20006
  202-887-1872 (ph), 202-887-1875 (fax)
  http://www.mineralpolicy.org, mpc@mineralpolicy.org