Statement of Problem
The Ely Copper Mine was declared a superfund site in 2001.
Mining activity occurred from 1821 to 1920
Ore body discovered in 1813
Location
The Ely Copper Mine is located in East Central Vermont in the rural town of Vershire, Orange County. The site is part of a region referred to as the Vermont Copper Belt, or the Orange Country copper district. Over 30 miles long, the belt runs in a NNE–SSW direction. The Ely Mine is one of three major mine sites in the region. It sits between Pike Hill Copper Mine to the north and Elizabeth Mine to the south. Figure 1:
The abandoned mine site is situated on 1,800 acres of land, 350 acres of which was developed for mining operations. Most mining operations at the Ely Mine occurred …show more content…
Schoolhouse Brook borders Ely Mine at the south and the mine site runs roughly parallel to Ely Brook.
Bedrock Geology
Three bedrock formations underlie the Orange County copper district: the Waits River Formation, Standing Pond Volcanics, and the Gile Mountain Formation. Figure 4 outlines the boundaries of these formations. The Waits River Formation consists of metamorphosed carbonate and siliciclastic turbidites formed during the Early to Middle Silurian age. These deposits are the oldest, as determined by the law of superposition. Standing Pond Volcanics consist of metabasaltic amphibolite and exhalative chemical metasedimentary rocks of the Middle Silurian age (Hammarstrom et al., 2001).
The bedrock beneath the Ely mine site is part of the Gile Mountain Formation. The Gile Mountain Formation formed during the Acadian Orogeny during the Lower Devonian period. Originally deposited as sedimentary rock, the bedrock underlying the Ely Mine site is highly metamorphosed. It is largely comprised of noncarbonaceous quartz-mica schist and feldspathic quartzite, interbedded with amphibolite in some regions. The dominant minerals include quartz, feldspar, mica, hornblende, and …show more content…
The Ely mine was among the top ten copper producing mines in the United States between 1866 and 1881.
The Ely Copper Mine produced between 30 and 40 million pounds of copper during its operation.
“The Ely mine was the only copper mine in Vermont where all technological aspects of refined copper production, from the mining of raw ore to the smelting of refined ingot copper, were successfully integrated on a large scale.”
The main shaft descends into the mine at a steep angle
The main shaft reached over 3,000 feet.
During the first 13 years of operation, ore mined at the Ely Mine was shipped elsewhere in the New England to be smelted.
Ore was processed at the mine site before shipment: first in a crusher house, which broke the ore into small pieces, and second, cobbed by hand and separated into copper-bearing ore and barren Pyrrhotite.
By 1879, 24 smelting furnaces operated at the site.
Groundwater Pollution
Some of the waste materials at the mine have been exposed to weathering for 50 to 200 years (Hammarstrom et al., 2001).
The underlying bedrock is predominantly noncarbonaceous, and therefore has little capacity to neutralize acid (Hammarstrom et al.,
The Ely Copper Mine was declared a superfund site in 2001.
Mining activity occurred from 1821 to 1920
Ore body discovered in 1813
Location
The Ely Copper Mine is located in East Central Vermont in the rural town of Vershire, Orange County. The site is part of a region referred to as the Vermont Copper Belt, or the Orange Country copper district. Over 30 miles long, the belt runs in a NNE–SSW direction. The Ely Mine is one of three major mine sites in the region. It sits between Pike Hill Copper Mine to the north and Elizabeth Mine to the south. Figure 1:
The abandoned mine site is situated on 1,800 acres of land, 350 acres of which was developed for mining operations. Most mining operations at the Ely Mine occurred …show more content…
Schoolhouse Brook borders Ely Mine at the south and the mine site runs roughly parallel to Ely Brook.
Bedrock Geology
Three bedrock formations underlie the Orange County copper district: the Waits River Formation, Standing Pond Volcanics, and the Gile Mountain Formation. Figure 4 outlines the boundaries of these formations. The Waits River Formation consists of metamorphosed carbonate and siliciclastic turbidites formed during the Early to Middle Silurian age. These deposits are the oldest, as determined by the law of superposition. Standing Pond Volcanics consist of metabasaltic amphibolite and exhalative chemical metasedimentary rocks of the Middle Silurian age (Hammarstrom et al., 2001).
The bedrock beneath the Ely mine site is part of the Gile Mountain Formation. The Gile Mountain Formation formed during the Acadian Orogeny during the Lower Devonian period. Originally deposited as sedimentary rock, the bedrock underlying the Ely Mine site is highly metamorphosed. It is largely comprised of noncarbonaceous quartz-mica schist and feldspathic quartzite, interbedded with amphibolite in some regions. The dominant minerals include quartz, feldspar, mica, hornblende, and …show more content…
The Ely mine was among the top ten copper producing mines in the United States between 1866 and 1881.
The Ely Copper Mine produced between 30 and 40 million pounds of copper during its operation.
“The Ely mine was the only copper mine in Vermont where all technological aspects of refined copper production, from the mining of raw ore to the smelting of refined ingot copper, were successfully integrated on a large scale.”
The main shaft descends into the mine at a steep angle
The main shaft reached over 3,000 feet.
During the first 13 years of operation, ore mined at the Ely Mine was shipped elsewhere in the New England to be smelted.
Ore was processed at the mine site before shipment: first in a crusher house, which broke the ore into small pieces, and second, cobbed by hand and separated into copper-bearing ore and barren Pyrrhotite.
By 1879, 24 smelting furnaces operated at the site.
Groundwater Pollution
Some of the waste materials at the mine have been exposed to weathering for 50 to 200 years (Hammarstrom et al., 2001).
The underlying bedrock is predominantly noncarbonaceous, and therefore has little capacity to neutralize acid (Hammarstrom et al.,