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Colorado Taxpayers Must Clean Up Discarded Mine Northwest of Durango

Alan Levine
/
Creative Commons

Cleaning up an abandoned mine near Silverton whose operator also left a toxic mess in Mancos will cost taxpayers about $10,000.

The Durango Herald reports  the Colorado Division of Mining, Reclamation and Safety plans to start working on the Freda mine seven miles northwest of the town next summer. The Red Arrow Gold Corporation, owned by Craig Liukko, was permitted to operate the mine, but three years ago, inspectors found violations requiring $19,000 worth of work. The Herald reports when Liukko did not respond to notices, the state revoked his license and seized his bond, but it wasn’t enough to cover all the remediation. The state is also cleaning up Red Arrow’s contaminated former gold-milling site in Mancos, at a cost of more than $100,000 so far.

Gail Binkly is a career journalist who has worked for the Colorado Springs Gazette and Cortez Journal, and was the editor of the Four Corners Free Press, based in Cortez.
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