Eagle Mine is an abandoned mine near the

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

of Gilman and about one mile southeast of Minturn, in the U.S. state of Colorado. Mining began in the 1880s, initially for gold and silver but focusing predominantly on

zinc Zinc is a chemical element; it has symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodic tabl ...

during later stages of its operation. After the mine's closure in 1984 and the abandonment of Gilman, a area, which included 8 million tons of mine waste, was designated a

Superfund Superfund is a United States federal environmental remediation program established by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). The program is administered by the United States Environmental Pro ...

site by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and placed on the National Priorities List in 1986. Eagle Mine had been owned by the

New Jersey Zinc Company New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 19 ...

, in its later years a subsidiary of

Gulf+Western Gulf and Western Industries, Inc. (stylized as Gulf+Western) was an American conglomerate. The company originally focused on manufacturing and resource extraction, but it began purchasing a number of entertainment companies beginning in 1966 ...

Viacom International Viacom, an abbreviation of Video and Audio Communications, may refer to: * Viacom (1952–2005), a former American media conglomerate * Viacom (2005–2019), a former company spun off from the original Viacom * Viacom18, a joint venture between Pa ...

was identified by the EPA as the successor in interest to the mine. According to the EPA, the mining operations left large amounts of

arsenic Arsenic is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol As and atomic number 33. It is a metalloid and one of the pnictogens, and therefore shares many properties with its group 15 neighbors phosphorus and antimony. Arsenic is not ...

cadmium Cadmium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Cd and atomic number 48. This soft, silvery-white metal is chemically similar to the two other stable metals in group 12 element, group 12, zinc and mercury (element), mercury. Like z ...

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...

, and zinc in the soil and caused large fish die-offs in the Eagle River, threatening drinking water in the town of Minturn downstream on the Eagle River. The cleanup plan, implemented beginning in 1988, included plugging and flooding the mine, collecting and treating mine and ground water in a new treatment plant, as well as removing, treating, and capping the waste products. A report by the EPA in 2000 concluded that cleanup operations had substantially reduced public health risks and improved the water quality in the Eagle River.

References

{{Reflist Superfund sites in Colorado Mines in Colorado Geography of Eagle County, Colorado Zinc mines in the United States Gulf and Western Industries

See also

References