Group would bar cyanide from mines

In the wake of a disastrous cyanide spill in Romania, a newly formed environmental group wants to ban the use of the toxic chemical at Colorado mines.

The Alliance for Responsible Mining has drafted a ballot question that could come before voters as early as November. Aside from the Romanian spill, which has made headlines around the world, the group cites long-running gold mining-related environmental problems in the San Luis Valley.

"Are we going to sit around and wait to fight the next disaster, or are we going to do something preventative?" said Colin Henderson, a family doctor in the San Luis Valley community of La Jara, who helped launch the group.

Only one major gold mine is operating in Colorado: the Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mining Co. in Teller County. As drafted, the ballot would not stop the company from using cyanide in its refining process but would prevent it from expanding the operation, Henderson said.

The alliance hasn't decided whether to launch the drive to gather the 62,595 signatures needed by August to get the question on the November ballot. But Colorado mining officials are taking the threat seriously. They worry, in part, because Montana voters passed a similar ban in 1998.

"It is an initiative that would essentially prohibit a lawful and heavily regulated activity, and it would require the closure of the most productive gold mine in the state," said Stuart Sanderson, president of the Colorado Mining Association.

John Hardaway, an official with the Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mining Co., said the company has met with alliance members "to see if there's some common ground. ... We're hopeful we can find something that won't hurt the company."

The mine, which sprawls over hundreds of acres between Victor and Cripple Creek, provides about 300 jobs. It pays the state about $224,000 a year in mining-related taxes as well as nearly $475,000 in property taxes to Teller County.

A cyanide solution is commonly used in modern-day gold mining. Sprinkled over ore, it leaches out the tiny flecks of gold that are too small to be recovered by other means. If it leaks or spills from a mine site into nearby streams, it can be deadly to fish and other aquatic life - as it has been in the Tisza River running through eastern Europe.

Cyanide leaks in the late 1980s from the Summitville Mine in south-central Colorado were cited by environmentalists as culprits in killing aquatic life in stretches of the Alamosa River, though scientists and mining officials say it was metal contamination, including high copper levels, that did far more damage.

Cyanide has also been an issue at the now-closed Battle Mountain gold mine near San Luis, where the company was fined in 1992 for excessive cyanide levels in a holding pond. That cyanide did not escape into the environment, according to state regulators.

The alliance's call to end cyanide mining has been endorsed by several environmental groups around the state, including the Western Colorado Congress and the High Country Citizen's Alliance, Henderson said.

Impact

Only one major gold mine operates in Colorado: the Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mining Co. The draft ballot initiative would not stop it from using cyanide but would keep it from expanding.

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