After years of negotiations and multiple environmental studies, a Canadian company this week started treating acid-tinged water oozing out of the abandoned Wellington-Oro Mine in French Gulch in Breckenridge.
BioteQ, a Vancouver, B.C.-based company, was chosen in June as the preferred technology provider for the cleanup and started setting up operations at the Wellington-Oro site this past weekend. The pilot treatment plant will only be in operation for a few weeks, but if the test results meet expectations, construction of a permanent $1.2 million treatment facility could begin as soon as next spring, according to Brian Lorch, a resource specialist with the Summit County Open Space and Trails Department.
Treatment of the mine drainage is part of the larger cleanup issues surrounding the entire B&B open space deal, to be jointly funded by the town of Breckenridge and Summit County. BioteQ has offered to pay the cost of construction and one year of operation up front, with no money down from local governments, to make sure the treatment meets objectives.
The goal is to meet the water quality standards set during years of talks between local, state and federal water quality officials.The acid mine drainage from the Wellington-Oro contributes significant levels of cadmium and zinc to the waters of French Gulch and, in turn, the Blue River, impairing the aquatic ecosystem downstream. The goal of the treatment is to clean the water to where the Blue can support a self-sustaining brown trout fishery below its confluence with French Gulch. Treating the acid mine drainage at the site is also one element of the complex 1,800-acre open space deal for the old B&B mining lands in the vicinity of the Wellington-Oro.
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