ryoder 1,590 #26 September 16, 2015 Summary of all the old mines in CO leaking into our water: http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_28820352/draining-old-mines-foul-denvers-watershed-every-day"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
turtlespeed 226 #27 September 16, 2015 ryoderSummary of all the old mines in CO leaking into our water: http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_28820352/draining-old-mines-foul-denvers-watershed-every-day Meh, just smoke a little weed and forgedaboutitI'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ryoder 1,590 #28 September 23, 2015 And another one. This one feeds into Boulder's water supply."There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
turtlespeed 226 #29 September 23, 2015 ryoderAnd another one. This one feeds into Boulder's water supply. I don't have mining knowledge, what produces the heavy metals? Why are they not carried out with the ore? Is it part of the mining process? Or just thatthe soils and medium were disturbed and now silt into the aquifer?I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Amazon 7 #30 September 23, 2015 turtlespeed***And another one. This one feeds into Boulder's water supply. I don't have mining knowledge, what produces the heavy metals? Why are they not carried out with the ore? Is it part of the mining process? Or just thatthe soils and medium were disturbed and now silt into the aquifer? Its not a siltification of soils in those kinds of mines. Most of those old hardrock mines closed many years ago.. the miners were after the high grade metallic minerals that concentrated in veins were they were concentrated as a hydrothermal process as the underlying magma cooled forcing the metals that cool at far lower temperatures to concentrate in "cracks" in the rocks surrounding the magma. They took out what was considered worth getting economically back then leaving the tunnels and the drifts that followed the ore within the "country rock". Very few mines are dry places and over the years many tend to fill with water. The water then dissolves the metals out of the uneconomic leftovers in the rock. most of those veins have pyrites and sulfides that dissolve easily leaving a really nasty toxic "soup" Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ryoder 1,590 #31 September 23, 2015 Also, an amateur historian I once met while cycling the canyons, told me about this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_cyanidation"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Amazon 7 #32 September 23, 2015 ryoder Also, an amateur historian I once met while cycling the canyons, told me about this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_cyanidation That kind of Heap Leach mining is going on all over the west and I have been to several mines in Nevada and SE Oregon... They extract the ore... beat it into submission ( little pieces) then piled it up with sprayers to soak it and the leachate is collected and processed. It is great dealing with all that low grade ore( like 1/10 of a troy ounce per ton or less) but it also leaves a nice mess that will further pollute the local area for generations as the left overs are weathered.From Wiki Quote The production of one gold ring through this method, can generate 20 tons of waste material Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
