PROJECT SUMMARY

INTERNATIONAL SMELTER SITE

STOCKTON DISTRICT

BAUER MILL SITE

DRAGON MINE SITE

INTERNATIONAL SMELTER SITE, UTAH

Brief Description of Site

The International Smelter site (sometimes referred to as the Carr Fork Property) is 3 km east of Tooele, Utah. The smelter was active from 1910 until 1979, when it was shut down for economic reasons. Part of the tailings areas of the property were reactivated by the Anaconda Corp. for a few years in the early to mid-1980s for use as a tailings disposal area for the Carr Fork Mine and mill. Reclamation of the site was performed in the late 1980s (Braxton and Buck, 1989). Subsequently, the surface rights were transferred to the Utah Department of Wildlife Resources (UDWR) for use of the former smelter and tailings property as a State Wildlife Reservation. The area now is popular for hunting as a result. The site is immediately upstream from the Lincoln area (hamlet) of Tooele County and various farms, and the town of Tooele is slowly growing to the east, with residential areas nearing the border of the Wildlife Reservation.

Waste issues at the site include extensive tailings areas, with deposition over a long period of time, mine wastes related to an old mine adit (Eldon Tunnel) at the northwestern corner of the property, the smelter/concentrator complex itself including a large slag pile, and any off-site real or potential impacts such as from past smelter smokestack emissions or past or present downstream release of tailings or waters from the site. The reclamation process performed in the late 1980s presumably remediated or obviated most of these issues. However, the UDE Utah Department of Environmental Quality (UDEQ) and EPA still consider the site to be of interest for investigation to substantiate these assumptions.

Why Site Was Chosen

The reclamation of the International Smelter site was the primary target for evaluation. In other words, what was the relative success of revegetation and reclamation activity, and could hyperspectral data and methods indicate areas in need of further remediation or which were missed during the original reclamation process? Could tailings and other mill and mine wastes be seen after the reclamation process?

This smelter and tailings site provided a near-endmember of a mill site that had received significant wastes of various types over a long time and which had been "reclaimed" for subsequent different land use. The issue is whether reclamation is inadequate or has been damaged by subsequent resurgence of the wastes and their chemical products.

The International Smelter site is of interest to UDEQ for assessment of potential on-site and downstream hazards to nearby residents and recreational users of the site, as well as to livestock and wildlife resident at or using the site. The Utah Department of Wildlife Resources (UDWR) has direct responsibility for management of the reclaimed property because it is a State Wildlife Reservation. Their primary interest is in wildlife health and habitat, which involves insuring that any remaining reclamation or remediation of the site enhances such habitat and opportunities for recreational use of the area. Tooele County and the town of Tooele, although not directly involved in any part of the Phase I studies, would have an interest in the site as well for similar reasons as the UDEQ, with emphasis on the human users and neighbors of the site.

CASI false color image of International Smelter Site. This image shows the slag piles (Sp), tailings dams (TD) and dikes (dk), waste dumps (W), and old smelter complex (SC). The map below identifies the different types of materials characterized at the site.

SUMMARY OF RESULTS - INTERNATIONAL SMELTER

	The International Smelter site is a special challenge, compared to previously studied abandoned mine lands sites, in that the mine and mill wastes have been remediated and reclaimed partially into a wildlife reservation. The objective of this study is to assess how effective that remediation has been. The site is re-vegetated with various grasses, weeds, and low bushes, but generally was not chemically neutralized. Therefore, certain areas are showing resurgence of the mine and mill waste products. It is possible to show this with the hyperspectral images.
	Not all of the tailings have been cleaned-up or covered-up (tailings were observed and spectrally confirmed in a number of samples) and, equally important, there is presently acid drainage from the smelter/concentrator complex along the Dry Canyon drainage, and potentially from the Northwest dump. These sample areas likewise appear as "tailings" and potential mineralogical anomalies in the hyperspectral images.
	Although AVIRIS shows general distributions of minerals, the higher spectral and spatial resolution of the SFSI sensor provides the ability to better separate transitional, acid drainage-diagnostic mineral species that cannot be discerned as well in the AVIRIS images. Many of the failed revegetation areas and unreclaimed areas also are too small to be resolved adequately by the AVIRIS data.
	The most common infrared active minerals at the International Smelter Complex include smectite, illite, kaolinite, gypsum, calcite, and dolomite, with minor alunogen, jarosite, and selected copper sulfates. Aside from the exotic sulfates, these are the species most readily identified from the aircraft data.
	Acid drainage-associated minerals at this site include alunogen, jarosite, gypsum, and transitional kaolinites.
	Alunogen is an aluminum sulfate mineral, which is a product of oxidized sulfides and clays. Alunogen is an indicator of high sulfate, low pH, base metals, and trace elements, and is directly related to development of acid drainage. Ground spectroscopy can quickly check for its presence and at International Smelter and can be used to monitor the remediation. Unfortunately, it is very difficult mineral to process for in the hyperspectral data, especially under the conditions at International Smelter, where it appears in low concentrations only in small areas.
	Calcite is a calcium carbonate mineral, stable in a pH neutral environment. It is found in the tailings and dumps. It occurs in the country rock limestone and also as a ground water precipitate (caliche). It is an essential component for gypsum generation from acid ground water and SO2 stack emissions.
	There is an association of dolomite as pebbles with tailings areas, drainages, gravels, and alluvial fans. Dolomite is not seen in dumps, borrow pits, settling ponds, or in the smelter site. It is hypothesized to be detrital in origin.
	Gypsum can be a weathering product of sulfide, or SO2 combined with carbonate, and is stable in a dry climate. Both input components are present at this site. The climate, however, is perhaps too humid to sustain extensive development of this mineral, except in areas of higher concentration of sulfide. This actually makes it a good pathfinder for the mine and mill wastes and smelter emissions.
	Illites analyzed at the Anaconda site appear to be associated with the mine and mill waste materials and debris washed down on the alluvial fans from the mineral deposits to the east.
	Poorly crystalline kaolinite is the more common occurrence of kaolinite. It is also easier to explain its presence as a function of acidic ground water activity. Therefore, it would be expected to be present anywhere there is a possibility of sulfides or oxidized sulfides or SO2 emissions. This appears to be the case as this material is particularly concentrated at the smelter complex where there are remnant sulfides, in drainages draining from the smelter complex, and on dumps and tailings piles.
	Smectite is fairly ubiquitous throughout the site. Generally, it has been observed that smectite associates with the tailings, fines, and soils. There is an association with kaolinites, gypsum, carbonates, silica, and jarosite.
	Smectite -> kaolinite is thought to be associated with mining related materials and is a hypothesized product of slightly acidic ground water, which is acting on the precursor illite or smectite.
	Impacts of smelter smokestack emissions have been detected and preliminarily mapped with the hyperspectral images. This issue of smelter emissions has previously not been addressed at this site. It is felt to be very important relative to the impact on Pine Canyon area vegetation and water quality from the past H2SO4 acid generation at the site.

The application of remote sensing, and hyperspectral technology in particular, to this site has the potential to provide the reclamation industry and concerned government agencies with an example of how to evaluate past and present reclamation efforts quickly and thoroughly.

With the nationwide interest in reclamation and remediation of abandoned mines and mills, and other industrial sites, this area of site characterization has considerable commercial potential.

The International Smelter study area is an ideal site for hyperspectral applied to a reclaimed and variously revegetated mill complex and effluent features, including the smelter stack emissions. Mineralogical and spectral results have shown that there are apparent mineralogical differences among samples of the wastes, smelter area, and background material that can be discriminated by use of the hyperspectral data and images.

As with most geological materials, the mineralogical differences are rarely absolute. However, the important point is that areas where chemically important minerals, such as jarosite and gypsum for indications of vegetation-unfriendly acid and sulfates, are apparent on the image indicate areas of the site that have poorly revegetated and where further analysis for remediation is needed.

Areas that can be classified as exposed tailings, even after reclamation, need to be addressed for possible chemical impacts to vegetation as well as areas that are susceptible to wind and water erosion and resultant eolian and alluvial sedimentation off site. Obviously, the ability to identify such chemical and material conditions has commercial application not just to this site, but also to all wastes being reclaimed or where revegetation has been less than fully successful. Hyperspectral technology has the ability to identify problem areas and minimize direct and indirect environmental impacts by helping direct appropriate and thorough remediation of these sites, preferably before reclamation begins.

The sample and image analyses also have identified parts of the smelter and tailings areas that were not included in the original reclamation map and plan as being areas requiring reclamation or remediation. However, there clearly are exposed to partially revegetated tailings and chemically impacted areas within and "downstream" of the smelter area. Based on discussions with personnel from the UDEQ and UDWR, most of these subareas were unknown to the regulatory and land management staff, to the extent that some outlying tailings may be being used as spot reclamation materials under the assumption that these are areas of soils.

Knowing where reclaimable materials within a site have escaped notice, and where materials of uncertain quality have escaped notice outside the defined reclamation area, is an important aspect of site characterization. For commercialization, such information is a strong selling point for using more thorough and unbiased means, such as hyperspectral, of site investigation, preferably before reclamation begins, but also as a means of preventing environmental impacts outside a waste site by identifying all wastes.

The hyperspectral imagery has also provided information about the distribution of the smelter stack emissions. This was not previously known and only speculated about by the UDEQ scientists. There are many implications and applications should this prove a verifiable use of the technology.

WATERSHED ASPECTS OF RESULTS

	The International Smelter site appears to be generating acidic drainage at least within Dry Canyon where it passes through the smelter/concentrator complex. This drainage continues out through the reclaimed tailings and ultimately into the basin fill to the northwest of the tailings. This has the potential to be contaminating ground water supplies with acidic and heavy metal-bearing waters if there is insufficient neutralization and complexation capability in the host sediments.
	The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), the Utah Department of Environmental Quality (UDEQ), and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) did at one time, about five years ago, initiate water quality investigations for Pine Creek. It is not known if these investigations were pursued.
	Past escape of tailings from the International Smelter site to the northwest, due to apparent old breaks in the IS&R tailings dam(s), has introduced tailings to the local surface watersheds that drain into the farming and residential area of the hamlet of Lincoln and surroundings. The omission of these tailings washouts from the 1980s reclamation plan suggests that they were not recognized and that no studies have been performed to determine if sulfates or other contaminants from the tailings have entered the water system. They are, however, very obvious on the hyperspectral images and their presence will be brought to the attention of the UDEQ. Historical investigations of these washouts and water, and more extensive tailings sampling, is suggested.
	The impact of past emissions from the International Smelter stacks, which appear to have affected the area along Pine Creek and across areas of the west-facing range front, apparently has not been addressed.

APPLICATION OF STUDY AREAS TO POTENTIAL COMMERCIALIZATION AND MARKETS

The International Smelter area serves as a former location of smelting and other beneficiation processes that has been "reclaimed" in accordance with typical practice for former mine and mineral-related industrial sites. By that we mean that the site has been regraded in part, buildings removed (primarily to remove potential physical hazards), a stabilizing cover applied (gravel and "soil" in this case) to much of the wastes and building areas, surface water control to limit adverse erosion and sediment transport off site, and revegetation performed with the ultimate goal of converting the site into a wildlife reservation with limited human access. The reclamation performed was done primarily for what we refer to as "esthetic" purposes rather than to completely eliminate chemical impacts from former industrial activities.

In this regard, the study area provides the opportunity to evaluate a site with potential for chemical impacts that was reclaimed more than 10 years ago. Quality and efficacy of reclamation of mines, mills, and other industrial sites is an ongoing concern for site stakeholders, both before the reclamation is done and after for various economic and cultural reasons. Complete and appropriate reclamation of a site theoretically should produce an area, which presents no further on- or off-site hazards to the environment or users of the area. Even partial failure of the reclamation and revegetation process leads to the usually expensive need for a responsible stakeholder (e.g., the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (UDWR) at this site) to continue to monitor and remediate problems that crop up.

The application of remote sensing, and hyperspectral technology in particular, to this site has the potential to provide the reclamation industry and concerned government agencies with an example of how to evaluate past and present reclamation efforts quickly and thoroughly. With the nationwide interest in reclamation and remediation of abandoned mines and mills, and other industrial sites, this area of site characterization has considerable commercial potential. Some aspects of the monetary value of these markets were covered in previous Phase I reports on commercialization and market strategy and will not be reiterated here. In Phase II, additional investigation into this market segment will be made and contacts pursued (both personal and publications) to present the results for this study area and develop this market area for hyperspectral applications.

COMMERCIAL IMPLICATIONS OF RESULTS

The International Smelter study area is an ideal site for hyperspectral applied to a reclaimed and variously revegetated mill complex and effluent features, including the smelter stack emissions. Mineralogical and spectral results have shown (and described in more detail above and in Volumes II and III of the Phase I Report) that there are apparent mineralogical differences among samples of the wastes, smelter area, and background material that can be discriminated by use of the hyperspectral data and images.

As with most geological materials, the mineralogical differences are rarely absolute. However, the important point is that areas where chemically important minerals, such as jarosite and gypsum for indications of vegetation-unfriendly acid and sulfates, are apparent on the image indicate areas of the site that have poorly revegetated and where further analysis for remediation is needed. Areas that can be classified as exposed tailings, even after reclamation, need to be addressed for possible chemical impacts to vegetation as well as areas that are susceptible to wind and water erosion and resultant eolian and alluvial sedimentation off site. Obviously, the ability to identify such chemical and material conditions has commercial application not just to this site, but also to all wastes being reclaimed or where revegetation has been less than fully successful. Hyperspectral technology has the ability to identify problem areas and minimize direct and indirect environmental impacts by helping direct appropriate and thorough remediation of these sites, preferably before reclamation begins.

The sample and image analyses also have identified parts of the smelter and tailings areas that were not included in the original reclamation map and plan as being areas requiring reclamation or remediation. Why these areas were omitted was not explained in the available article on the reclamation effort (Braxton and Buck, 1989). However, there clearly are exposed to partially revegetated tailings and chemically impacted areas within and "downstream" of the smelter area. Based on discussions with personnel from the UDEQ and UDWR, most of these subareas were unknown to the regulatory and land management staff, to the extent that some outlying tailings may be being used as spot reclamation materials under the assumption that these are areas of soils.

Knowing where reclaimable materials within a site have escaped notice, and where materials of uncertain quality have escaped notice outside the defined reclamation area, is an important aspect of site characterization. For commercialization, such information is a strong selling point for using more thorough and unbiased means, such as hyperspectral, of site investigation, preferably before reclamation begins, but also as a means of preventing environmental impacts outside a waste site by identifying all wastes.

The hyperspectral imagery has also provided information about the distribution of the smelter stack emissions. This was not previously known and only speculated about by the UDEQ scientists. There are many implications and applications should this prove a verifiable use of the technology.

The potential for eolian tailings was an issue at the International Smelter site prior to reclamation and was addressed in the revegetation plan for that area. An important point about such eolian tailings, which most people forget when discussing "fugitive dust", is just what the composition is of those tailings. Do the tailings present any chemical hazards or are they simply a dust and sedimentation hazard? The continued study of the Bauer tailings, dunes, and downwind impacts will help address this market segment which is on the minds of many growing urban areas in the Western United States that are encroaching on formerly isolated mill sites.