Day 9

The Midnite Mine

Day 9

 

            Before we begin our tour of the Midnite Mine and Ford Mill, we are all gathered at the library inside Wellpinit High School. Warren Sailor gave a brief history of the mind and what it meant to the people of the Spokane Tribe Reservation. Uranium was found by two brothers of the Spokane Tribe and ran with the help of Dawn Mining Company an subsidiary of Newmont Mining Company. The cost of running the mine became more costly than the price of selling uranium especially when the Three Mile Island had a nuclear accident sending uranium prices down. The mine closed 1981 and the mining company left the site leaving radioactive material exposed as explained by Twa-le Abrahamson the Native Air Quality Director/radio host. It wasn’t till the tribe had to sue the company to come back and clean up their mess which was until 2001.

            The second part of the talk was safety regulations and the Midnite mine director Randy Barnes had us sign a release form for enter the radioactive sites. As a Superfund site and the only one of its kind in the Pacific Northwest that is uranium mine, the government and Dawn Mining Company are funding to clean up the site. Several worries are that we reach an area that is radioactive and we inhale the radio activity into our lungs which will remain with us for our life time. The EPA is overseeing that the company follows protocols and is not creating a worst mess. Two pits are exposed that contain water at the bottom that are going through a water treatment process to be put back into local streams on the reservation. We were handed a piece of paper explaining to women the health concerns. When Twa-le asked about health concerns, right away safety specialist Michelle Durum told Twa-le “It’s on the paper.”

            The first site that we were taken to was the Ford Mill site right outside the Spokane Tribe Reservation with a creek that separates the two and provides water for nearby houses. We were welcomed with signs that warn about radioactivity and to keep out. Large areas were clear cut for large ponds of water to be treated by evaporation. The radioactive site is surrounded by fence and a nearby hill was hiked to look down into the mill site. Uranium ores were brought here to be processed and now over 30 years later remains a problem to the community.

            The second site we were taken to was the Midnite Mine site 25 miles west of Ford Miller. As we drove past dense vegetation and a dried up area known as Blood Pool because of the red waste that builds into that area. Twa-le explained that several animals have been found dead near the water from radiation poisoning. The site is supposedly fenced off but Twa-le again explained that the site is very accessible from humans or animals. We reached the site and were divided into two groups one left to the pit while the other group left to water treatment plant. I was part of the group that entered the water treatment plant. Several containers provided salts like Barium Chloride, Calcium Chloride, and Sulfuric acid provided buffers to salt out the uranium into sludge and change the pH of the water to 7-7.5. The sludge again will be processed through a filter press that leaves yellow cakes of heavy metals which will be shipped to Utah be process. Each bag collected will weigh between 6-8,000Ibs.

 Water treated with Hydrated lime

 Container full of Barium Chloride

 Yellow Cake from the treatment process.Hydrated Lime

          

 Next was the pit. We walked to a dock that peered down into the giant mine site dug many years ago. The site is about 500 to 1,000 feet deep. At the very bottom of the pit laid water that was being pumped thousands of feet to the water treatment plant. 50 millions of gallons are pumped out and treated each year. Within a year the pit will be emptied and fill with rock and a protective cover between another layer of rock and revegetated over the course of 10 years. There is still one other pit north but much smaller compared to this site. Bacteria in the water is already eating the uranium and secreting acid into the water changing the pH of the water. Dawn Mining Company is confident in the project for total safety but Twa-Le was skeptical along with other environmental critics that studied other state problems. Only time will tell if the reservation will return to a safe location and drinking water is not contaminated leading to other health problems.

Midnite Mine Pit 3

Pit 3