Mercury Recycling Pilot Project from 1994

[The Gilded Lens]

Found this beautifully desinged pdf about mercury collections in Nevada County in the late 90's. Found it interesting.

This little snippet:

In 2007 suction dredgers again stated they needed
help getting rid of mercury they collect during
Department of Fish and Game and State Water
Board Public meeting on suction dredging.
„
In response, the State Water Resources Control
Board posts information about mercury on its web
site.


http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/cwa401/docs/suctiondredge/mercury_recycle.pdf

and this one too:
http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/cwa401/docs/suctiondredge/2007merc_drdg_rpt.pdf

Why on earth (other than nefarious reasons) would they say,

"It is unacceptable to encourage suction dredgers to “clean up” in stream mercury hotspots
because dredges release too much mercury in easily transportable forms. There may be
other reasons to discourage suction dredging of mercury hotspots once the bioavailablity
of fl oured mercury becomes known. It would be advisable for land management agencies
to contact dredgers through their clubs and discourage them from trying to dredge liquid
mercury from in-river hotspots on public lands. Removing mercury with hand-operated
suction tubes, or better yet, reporting hotspot locations to land management agencies is
a better strategy."

Isn't the land management agency going to use a suction dredge as well? Don't mean to stir the pot up any more than it is, but thought these older articles were interesting and I really enjoy learning about this topic.

 

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[fowledup]

TGL- Would you please post a link to the whole article? Thank you!

 

[The Gilded Lens]

TGL- Would you please post a link to the whole article? Thank you!

Yeah, I'll find it again and post when I get home. I accidentally double posted the first link and screwed everything up.


.... Found it! Edited original post to include the link

 

[fowledup]

Cool, thanks much!

 

[Hoser John]

We had a statewide program for awhile but kalif just hated to admit we do what we say so adios-John

 

[2cmorau]

yuup, we dredgers are very baffled why Crazyfornia would resist a very positive win win for the state, cleaning the Environment, creating a revenue, 98% recovery is far better the that combie dredge with maybe a 80% recovery

now you get to share with the pals and gals, try to figure out and demystify mercury, add to that the positive effects Selenium, Spirulina, and chlorella.

Good luck

 

[goldenIrishman]

It was those crazy politicos that pretty much drove me out of California. Now I only go there to visit and there's no way I'd ever move back there. Seems to me that the only people that get elected in that state are nutz and looking out only for themselves.

California most likely got rid of the mercury recovery project because they hadn't figured out how to make money off of it at that time. Have you noticed that since the Greenies figured out how to charge the tax payers to get rid of the mercury that now the state is back on with getting rid of the mercury? Interesting...

 

[BrassEagle]

Why couldn't the state run a program were they will pay the miner for the mercury that they recover from the river during dredge season? Then the state could refine the mercury remove the gold and give X% the money from that to the poor or were it is needed. That will not happen but it seams simple to me. This way the greenes get cleaner water, the state makes money, The miner make money, the fishermen get cleaner fish. and we all will come out better. What would it cost to run this?

 

[fowledup]

Why couldn't the state run a program were they will pay the miner for the mercury that they recover from the river during dredge season? Then the state could refine the mercury remove the gold and give X% the money from that to the poor or were it is needed. That will not happen but it seams simple to me. This way the greenes get cleaner water, the state makes money, The miner make money, the fishermen get cleaner fish. and we all will come out better. What would it cost to run this?

Would be the natural common sense solution to a problem with pollution wouldn't it? Hey that's kinda catchy- "Common sense solution to a problem with pollution" -I smell a Jingle, lol. Anywho, In fact is has been tried and proven- a glowing success, so what happened - Why wasn't free good enough?


Serving Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, the Pacific Islands, and Tribal Nations
Contact UsSearch:All EPAThis Area

You are here: EPA Home
Region 9
Innovative Programs

The Challenge:

Looking for gold in California streams and rivers is a recreational activity for thousands of state residents. Many gold enthusiasts simply pan gravels and sediments. More serious recreational miners may have small sluice boxes or suction dredges to recover gold bearing sediments. As these miners remove sediments, sands, and gravel from streams and former mine sites to separate out the gold, they are also removing mercury.
This mercury is the remnant of millions of pounds of pure mercury that was added to sluice boxes used by historic mining operations between 1850 and 1890. Mercury is a toxic, persistent, and bioaccumulative pollutant that affects the nervous system and has long been known to be toxic to humans, fish, and wildlife. Mercury in streams can bioaccumulate in fish and make them unfit for human consumption.

The Solution:
Taking mercury out of streams benefits the environment. Efforts to collect mercury from recreational gold miners in the past however, have been stymied due to perceived regulatory barriers. Disposal of mercury is normally subject to all regulations applicable to hazardous waste. In 2000, EPA and California's Division of Toxic Substance Control worked in concert with other State and local agencies to find the regulatory flexibility needed to collect mercury in a simple and effective manner. These groups agreed to test two different mechanisms for collecting mercury during the summer of 2000. One approach was to add mercury to the list of materials that are collected at regularly scheduled or periodic household hazardous waste collection events sponsored by local county agencies.
Another mercury collection approach was to set up collection stations in areas where mercury is being found by recreational miners. One possibility would be to advertise a fixed location where people could bring mercury on a specific date and time. Another was to create a mercury "milk run" where state, local, or federal agency staff would come to locations specified by individuals or organizations such as suction dredging clubs, and pick up mercury that had been collected.

The Results:
In August and September, 2000 the first mercury "milk runs" collected 230 pounds of mercury. Not only was mercury received from recreational gold miners, but others such as retired dentists, also participated by turning in mercury that was in their possession. A Nevada County household waste collection event held in September 2000 collected about 10 pounds of mercury. The total amount of mercury collected was equivalent to the mercury load in 47 years worth of wastewater discharge from the city of Sacramento's sewage treatment plant or the mercury in a million mercury thermometers. This successful pilot program demonstrates how recreational gold miners and government agencies can work together to protect the environment. In the summer of 2001, State agencies planned to extend the program to six counties and include collection of mercury at summer mining fairs.

Contact:
For further information, please contact David Jones at (415) 744-2266, [email protected]
Region 9 Topics and Programs | A-Z Index

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Region 9 Home
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[fowledup]

Lets timeline this for more perspective;

2000-2001 EPA region region 9, led by head staff member D. Jones implements a program to recover mercury at low to no cost by a volunteer workforce from Califonia waters. Two expermental volunteer "milk run" trials are ran with overwhelming success- 230lbs plus remediated. Further sources that were previously unidentified were also brought to light- homeowners, dentists, and investors with stockpiles of Mercury in their homes and buisnesses. A Win Win for California, the EPA, and the Miners. According to the staff report written on the program-
"In the summer of 2001, State agencies planned to extend the program to six counties and include collection of mercury at summer mining fairs."

2005- SWRCB releases their report on a "hot spot" test site, You'll note something has changed, something is different as you can see from the quote taken from the report which TGL put up in the first post. From the report the test results showed that a stock Keene dredge designed exclusively for gold recovery captured 98% of the Mercury. The final conclusion -they took the stance that it was the escaped 2% that made recovery of Mercury by dredging unnacceptable. To my knowledge they never approached the manufacturers seeking ideas for a better recovery percentage. Or repeated the test after trying to modify or improve the catch rate themselves. I've always wondered what a thinly woven copper mesh used as a " knockdown amalgam curtain" at the top, bottom or both ends of the sluice would have. They could be safely stored and reused until they were deemed "used up" and then could be recycled along with the other captured mercury at the end of a shift or at clean out. There is another quote from the same report that sheds some light that they may by this time have been entertaining a more lucrative approach for themselves.

"It might be possible to design a shore-based recovery system for the Coloma hotspot and
recover mercury annually. Such a system would need to minimize mercury loss. Recovery
equipment would need to be held in storage during nonuse and operated by trained staff.
Proper permits (e.g., in stream alteration, and, mercury disposal or recycling) would be
needed. Such a project is more complex and costly in time, money, and commitment
than previously considered projects. Developing such a system might result in technical
advances that could be applied to dredges used by gold dredgers."

2008-2009 An outfit that is heavily involved in authoring a bill (sb 670) for Sen. Wiggins (lots of stories about the Sen. during the same time frame) halting and effectively banning Suction Dredge Mining is at the same time seeking millions in tax payer grant money to start Mercury remediaton programs using a "new and innovative technolgy"- A system that just so happens mimics to a "T" that described in the quote from the 2005 report. For some reason no one questions two facts- A) It's the same technology they wrote legislation effectively banning. and B) Their version has a lower recovery percentage than unmodified conventional gold dredging equipment. Bringing to mind one more important question- if 2% was unaccetable why is doubling, possibly tripling that figure OK now?

Present day- We are still banned from suction dredge mining, The Sierra Fund has received many more millions of dollars of taxpayer money. They are now the universally accepted Grand Authority of all things Mercury- writing policy and dictating procedure. They have become the largest publically funded mining consortium in California, if not the world. They are at this moment the sole source contractor for Mercury removal projects in California. And best of all -California waters are no safer as NOT ONE POUND MORE HAS BEEN REMOVED FROM OUR WATERWAYS SINCE THE VOLUNTEER "MILK RUN" TRIALS OF 2000.

It flat STINKS, and it's a stench that's not going away!

 

[goldenIrishman]

Of course they stopped these programs. They made too much sense! If there is any way to make things more complicated and costly, the state of California will find it. They've had an effective way of getting rid of mercury through miners for years and yet they make it impossible for them to dredge. Is it just me, or is there some requirement to check your brain at the door when you are elected to an office in California? I mean let's look at it here.... free mercury removal, jobs created, taxes paid, as well as many other benefits for the state and public. All in a nice neat package. EEEEEEEEHHHH!!!! To simple, to cost effective and most of all too logical for California Officials to handle....

Edit: And oh yeah... The EPA page Fowled copied and posted said that they had gotten 230 pounds of Mercury from miners on two "milk runs" in August and September. The Lake Combie project has stated that they will remove about 150 pounds and that ti will take years to finish as well as cost the tax payers millions of dollars. If stupidity was a capitol offense, California would have to replace every elected official with a position higher than city dog catcher!

 

[The Gilded Lens]

Great discussions! Fowled, I'm also wondering why 2% is unacceptable. You'd think that taking leaving 100% in the water is a lot worse than leaving 2%, but that's California law logic for you and I'm ashamed of it.

On a lighter note, I Googled "mercury in river meme" and did an image search and was flooded with images of Freddie Mercury. Which only made me mentally picture the great musician and artist and thousands of his dopplegangers swimming around on floaties on Lake Combie annoying the home owners. If only.

Anyway, will interesting to see what we dig up. I was actually surprised to find these links on the water board's site (and surprised they didn't re-do their ancient web design and make them appeal to the young generation with glossy info graphics... but let's not give them any ideas).

 

[fowledup]

Was he singing Bohemian Rhapsody? Great song, don't care who ya are!

 

[The Gilded Lens]

Was he singing Bohemian Rhapsody? Great song, don't care who ya are!

No, I think he was singing, "We are the champions". LOL

 

[goldenIrishman]

Well if there were a bunch of Lode mines by Combie they could be singing "We will rock you!". All that stomping and clapping would go over really well with the locals I'll bet.