The Hastings Mine is a mineral extraction site approximately northeast of the city of Vallejo,

Solano County, California Solano County () is a county (United States), county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 453,491. The county seat is Fairfield, California, Fairfield. Solano County comp ...

. The Hastings site on

Sulfur Springs Mountain Sulphur Springs Mountain (or Sulfur Springs Mountain) is a mountain in southwestern Solano County, California. The slopes can be accessed via hiking trails emanating from Blue Rock Springs Park in the city of Vallejo. Cinnabar deposits were ...

was used for extraction of

cinnabar Cinnabar (; ), or cinnabarite (), also known as ''mercurblende'' is the bright scarlet to brick-red form of Mercury sulfide, mercury(II) sulfide (HgS). It is the most common source ore for refining mercury (element), elemental mercury and is t ...

until the year 1930. The Hastings Mine is classified as a medium priority mine from the standpoint of environmental oversight.Oversight of inactive mercury mines in California
In the last inspection of the Hastings Mine in 1997, sediments in a drainage below the mine were found to contain ten parts per million of mercury; furthermore, spring water below the mine exhibited a water concentration of .31 micrograms per liter (a violation of the state of California standard for receiving waters of .05 micrograms per liter). Miles of underground shafts were driven in the course of working the quicksilver deposits in the area. In 1989, Earth Metrics reviewed old 1918 maps of workings of the Hastings and

St. John's Mine The St John's Mine is a mineral extraction site approximately three miles north of the city of Vallejo in Solano County, California, United States. The St John's site was used for extraction of cinnabar in the early 1900s. The St. John's Mine i ...

s and found that mine shafts were not driven into the site prior to the year 1918.C.Michael Hogan, Marc Papineau et al., ''Environmental Assessment of the columbus Parkway Widening between Ascot Parkway and the Northgate Development, Vallejo'', Earth Metrics Inc. Report 7853, California State Clearinghouse, Sept, 1989

Environmental effects

Principal ongoing impact is from mercury contamination of spring water flowing beneath the site; moreover, historical analysis has shown that the volume of spring water itself has been greatly reduced from levels of a century ago. This reduction of spring flow has come about due to the extensive mine shafts driven to achieve the cinnabar extraction.

References

Former mines in California History of Solano County, California Geography of Solano County, California Buildings and structures in Solano County, California {{US-mine-stub

Environmental effects

See also

References