Blackbird mine
{{Short description|Cobalt mine in Idaho, United States}}
{{Infobox mine
| name =Blackbird mine
| image =
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| location = USA
| pushpin_map = Idaho
| pushpin_label =Blackbird mine
| pushpin_map_caption = Location in Idaho
| coordinates = {{coord|45|7|2|N|114|20|33|W|region:US|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
| place = Lemhi County
| subdivision_type = State
| state/province = Idaho
| country = United States
| owner =
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Blackbird mine was a large cobalt mine in Lemhi County, Idaho, United States.
Mining for gold started in 1893, and the mine produced copper and cobalt between 1902 and 1968.{{cite web | url = http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/HAC/pha/pha.asp?docid=1040&pg=1 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160304111412/http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/HAC/pha/pha.asp?docid=1040&pg=1 | url-status = dead | archive-date = March 4, 2016 | title =Blackbird Mine|publisher=Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry}} The deposit still holds considerable amounts of copper and cobalt.{{cite web | url = http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1995/ofr-95-0831/CHAP17.pdf | title = BLACKBIRD CO-CU DEPOSITS (MODEL 24d; Earhart, 1986)|publisher=USGS}}*{{cite book | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=-u5oBJBOZsEC&pg=PA169 | title = Strategic materials : Technologies to reduce U.S. Import vulnerability | isbn = 9781428923515 | last1 = United States | first1 = Office of Technology Assessment}}
Water contamination at the mine resulted it its listing as a superfund site in 1983, and lawsuits ensued between the state of Idaho and the mining companies to clean it up. After over a decade in the courts, some cleanup began in 1997, which is indefinitely ongoing.{{cite web | url = http://yosemite.epa.gov/R10/CLEANUP.NSF/sites/Blackbird | title = Blackbird Mine|publisher=Environmental Protection Agency}}{{cite web | url = http://yosemite.epa.gov/r10/nplpad.nsf/0/eb9d9c56387b99f2852565940073000e?OpenDocument | title =PUBLIC HEALTH ASSESSMENT, BLACKBIRD MINE, COBALT, LEMHI COUNTY, IDAHO|publisher=EPA}}
Mine life
Intermittent mining began with gold discovered in the late 1800s. Cobalt was discovered in 1901, and full scale cobalt mining began in 1949. The mine was closed in the late 1980s leaving contaminated water and a superfund site.{{Cite web |last=Holtz |first=Michael |date=2022-01-24 |title=Idaho Is Sitting on One of the Most Important Elements on Earth |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2022/01/cobalt-clean-energy-climate-change-idaho/621321/ |access-date=2022-10-24 |website=The Atlantic |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Mohr |first=Kylie |last2= |date=21 Oct 2022 |title=Idaho cobalt mine is a harbinger of what’s to come |url=https://www.hcn.org/articles/north-mining-idaho-cobalt-mine-is-a-harbinger-of-whats-to-come |access-date=2022-10-24 |website=www.hcn.org |language=en-us}}{{cite book| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=kNwDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA65 | title = The richest hole in the mountain|date=May 1952|publisher=Popular Mechanics}}
Blackbird mine operated steadily from 1949 to 1959, supported by the federal government's demand for cobalt during the Cold War. The mine closed when federal demand ended; a few companies tried to open it again, but demand for cobalt was low and they were not successful. The mine was completely shut down by 1982.
= Damages =
By the early 1960s, contaminated water had resulted in the Snake River spring/summer Chinook salmon being eliminated from Panther Creek.*{{cite web | url =http://www.darrp.noaa.gov/northwest/black/index.html | title =Blackbird Mine | publisher =NOAA | access-date =2012-04-17 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20120915123429/http://www.darrp.noaa.gov/northwest/black/index.html | archive-date =2012-09-15 | url-status =dead }}
= Cleanup =
Water treatment methods
A water treatment plant collects contaminated water from the mine and uses a mechanical rake to dredge a sludge of coagulated heavy metals. The sludge is hauled in water tankers to be dried in open air basins elsewhere on the site. The sludge contains copper and cobalt, but it is uneconomical to salvage these minerals. Water treatment is ongoing, and reclamation managers did not foresee its end, stating "It’s really a very long way off,"
Jervois mine
In October 2022, Jervois mining company began production in the Idaho cobalt belt at a site adjacent to Blackbird mine.
References
{{Reflist}}
Bibliography / external links
- {{cite book | isbn = 978-0-9729108-0-4 | title = Cobalt: The Legacy of the Blackbird Mine| first =Russell | last = Steele | year = 2009}}
- {{cite book| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=X1PltgAACAAJ | title =Blackbird Mine Site Remedial Investigation, Lemhi County, Idaho | year = 2001}}
- {{cite book | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=D3VWAAAAYAAJ| title = Bulletin - Idaho Bureau of Mines and Geology | year = 1983}}
- {{cite book| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=d7DzAAAAMAAJ| title =Idaho Minerals | year =1993| isbn =9780928693027 | last1 =Ream | first1 =Lanny R. }}
- {{cite journal | doi = 10.1016/0043-1354(89)90054-7 | title = Distribution and mobilization of arsenic species in the creeks around the Blackbird mining district, Idaho | year = 1989 | last1 = Mok | first1 = W.M. | last2 = Wai | first2 = C.M. | journal = Water Research | volume = 23 | pages = 7–13}}
- {{cite journal | doi = 10.1007/BF00190377 | title = The Idaho cobalt belt, northwestern United States ? A metamorphosed Proterozoic exhalative ore district | year = 1990 | last1 = Nold | first1 = J.L. | journal = Mineralium Deposita | volume = 25 | issue = 3| pages = 163 |bibcode = 1990MinDe..25..163N | s2cid = 129640922 }}
- {{cite journal | doi = 10.2134/jeq1980.00472425000900010034x | title = Determining the Lime Requirement for the Blackbird Mine Spoil1 | year = 1980 | last1 = Sorensen | first1 = Darwin L. | last2 = Kneib | first2 = Walter A. | last3 = Porcella | first3 = Donald B. | last4 = Richardson | first4 = Bland Z. | journal = Journal of Environmental Quality | volume = 9 | pages = 162–166 }}
- {{cite journal | doi = 10.1007/BF00196334 | title = Iron and chlorine as guides to stratiform Cu-Co-Au deposits, Idaho Cobalt Belt, USA | year = 1993 | last1 = Nash | first1 = J.T. | last2 = Connor | first2 = J.J. | journal = Mineralium Deposita | volume = 28 | issue = 2| pages = 99 |bibcode = 1993MinDe..28...99N | s2cid = 129451149 }}
- {{cite journal | url = http://economicgeology.org/content/42/1/22 | doi = 10.2113/gsecongeo.42.1.22 | title = Cobalt mineralization in the Blackbird District, Lemhi County, Idaho | year = 1947 | last1 = Anderson | first1 = A. L. | journal = Economic Geology | volume = 42 | pages = 22–46}}
- {{cite journal | title = New production in the Idaho Cobalt Belt: a unique metallogenic province | last1 = Bending| first1 = J. Scott| last2= Scales | first2 = W. G.| journal = Applied Earth Science| volume = 110 | issue= 2 | year = 2001 |pages = 81–87| doi = 10.1179/aes.2001.110.2.81 | s2cid = 140634485}}
- {{cite journal | url = http://econgeol.geoscienceworld.org/content/48/6/447 | doi = 10.2113/gsecongeo.48.6.447 | title = Metamorphic differentiates in the Blackbird mining district, Lemhi County, Idaho | year = 1953 | last1 = Roberts | first1 = W. A. | journal = Economic Geology | volume = 48 | issue = 6 | pages = 447–456}}
Category:Cobalt mines in the United States
Category:Surface mines in the United States
Category:Underground mines in the United States
Category:Buildings and structures in Lemhi County, Idaho
Category:Superfund sites in Idaho