Abstract:

The ore deposit in Butte, Montana, USA is one of the largest porphyry copper-molybdenum deposits in the world. Mining began there with initial placer gold discoveries in Silver Bow Creek in 1864 only a few miles below the Continental Divide. Miners quickly followed leads and located mining claims for metals, notably copper. By the mid-1870s Butte had its first copper mine and mining has continued since then. In 1954 the Anaconda Mining Company began work on the Berkeley Pit, which would ultimately become one of the largest open pit mines in North America. In 1982 the pumps which drained the underground mines were turned off and the Berkeley Pit began to fill with contaminated water ultimately becoming a contaminate “lake”. In 1983 Butte was declared a Superfund site. The geochemistry of the Berkeley Pit/lake is its own story but one of the side effects of this contamination was a deadly mix for waterfowl, highlighted by waterfowl mortality events in 1997 and 2016. The designation as a Superfund site, a law potentially enabling clean up alternatives paved the way for an array of Citizen Science organizations, starting with Citizens Technical Environmental Committee (CTEC). Other organizations quickly followed including the Butte Restoration Alliance, Butte Natural Resources Committee, Pitwatch and Clark Fork Watershed Education Program (CFWEP) and perhaps most critically important, the Waterfowl Mitigation Program developed with Montana Tech, Atlantic Richfield and Montana Resources to limit waterfowl mortality at the Berkeley Pit/Lake.

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Mr. David Williams