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Events/Environment · 1992

Summitville mine environmental crisis

Environment, 1992 to 1993, United States.

What happened

The Summitville gold mine in Colorado was the focus of extensive public attention in 1992 and 1993 for environmental problems. USGS says it catalysed national debate on rules for mining on public lands.1,2

Why it matters

It became a test case for cleanup law.1,2

Story cards

Around the same time

  1. Nixon ends dollar convertibility into gold

    Gold ceased to have a fixed dollar price.3,4

  2. Grasberg mine area: Wikidata inception date

    The Papua copper-gold mine is dated to 1972 in Wikidata.5

  3. Placer Dome founded

    Placer Dome founded.6

  4. Giant Mine strike explosion

    The mine's later arsenic trioxide legacy made Giant a major remediation case.7,8

  5. Vaal Reefs gold mine disaster, South Africa

    Wikidata records 104 deaths.9

  6. Giant Mine passes to the federal government

    The stored arsenic dust is the reason for the long-running remediation project.7,8,10

  7. Baia Mare cyanide spill

    A UNEP and OCHA mission reviewed it in February and March 2000.11,12

  8. Copiapo mining accident (33 miners trapped)

    Copiapo mining accident (33 miners trapped). Wikidata records 0 deaths.13

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Where next

Events

InspiredGeneral Mining Law of 1872Summitville in 1992 started a national debate on the rules for mining on public land.1An example ofBerkeley Pit cleanup settlementAnother US cleanup test case: an 87 million dollar settlement over the Berkeley Pit in 2002.14

Sources

  1. The Summitville Mine and its downstream effects (OFR 95-23) US Geological Survey
  2. Summitville mine (item Q7637913), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  3. Nixon and the End of the Bretton Woods System, 1971-1973 US Department of State, Office of the Historian
  4. Washington, D.C. (item Q61), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  5. Wikidata item Q119297 (Grasberg Mine)
  6. Wikidata item Q3390766 (Placer Dome founded)
  7. Giant Mine Historical Timeline Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada
  8. Giant Mine (item Q1423887), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  9. Wikidata item Q119821776 (Vaal Reefs mining disaster)
  10. History of Giant Mine Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada
  11. Cyanide Spill at Baia Mare, Romania: UNEP/OCHA Assessment Mission report UNEP / UN OCHA via ReliefWeb
  12. Baia Mare (item Q185280), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  13. Wikidata item Q214790 (Copiapo mining accident (33 miners trapped))
  14. US and Montana reach agreement with mining companies to clean up Berkeley Pit (25 Mar 2002) US Environmental Protection Agency

From the Prospector Trails mining history dataset: each fact links to the source it was checked against. Figures are as the source gives them, in the money of their day. Not investment advice.

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Cover photos from Wikimedia Commons: Super Pit, Kalgoorlie by Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0; Underground mining equipment by Kaupo Kikkas, CC BY-SA 4.0. Pictures: Gold prospectors constructing a long box with a filter for panning gold. Process print after H.M. Paget, 1899., Henry Marriott Paget (Public Domain Mark 1.0); Pangkalpinang. Mijn 3b. Een reeks koelies bezig met het transporteeren van grond, Europeana (Public Domain Mark 1.0).