Callahan Mine cleanup continues

Major work set for this summer

- ELI FORMAN

BROOKSVILLE—Last month the Environmental Protection Agency released its yearly update on the ongoing remediation of the former Callahan Mine in Harborside.

The report outlined specific progress on several areas of the mine site, including stabilizing the tailings containment and impoundment dam and construction of a new access road using waste rock from the site.

The remediation of the site began in 2004 and has been organized in three separate projects that the EPA refers to as “operable units.”

The first operable unit involved clean-up of arsenic and lead contamination in neighboring residential properties along with containment of polychlorinated biphenyl or “PCBs” in the former mine operation area.

This operable unit was completed in 2013, according to the EPA.

The operable unit currently underway involves stabilizing and covering mine tailings and dredging followed by long-term containment of contaminated sediments in a confined aquatic disposal “CAD” cell located in the former mine pit.

The final goal of the current operable unit will be the restoration of vegetation and habitat on the site.

The entire mine site occupies nearly 120 acres along the east side of Goose Falls Road, incorporating several salt marshes and estuary ponds.

Mine activity on the peninsula began in the late 19th century, as prospecting for copper, iron, lead, zinc and silver took off and a flurry of small speculative mines dotted the area.