FLAT CREEK ROAD AND HALL GULCH ROAD
The Iron Mountain Mine and Mill (IMM) is the primary source of contamination at the site. It operated from 1909 to 1930 and again from 1947 to 1953 producing silver, gold, lead, copper and zinc ores. The now-abandoned property includes tunnels, tailings, a discharging adit, and the remnants of a mill and other mine buildings. The tailings from the mine contain elevated concentrations of metals. While the mine was in operation, tailings were disposed of along Flat Creek using gravity drainage. Those tailings have been distributed along Flat Creek as far as its confluence with the Clark Fork River. Although wastes still exist on the IMM site, most of the tailings were washed down onto the Flat Creek floodplain. Mine waste was also imported into Superior by the local government and various individuals for use as fill material in yards, roadways, and other locations, such as the school track. EPA conducted a preliminary assessment/site inspection at the site in 2001, at the request of local government and Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). As a result, additional sampling and a time-critical removal action were conducted in 2002 in the town of Superior by EPA’s Emergency Response Unit. Wastes were temporarily stockpiled in a repository at the local airport and have now been moved to a repository in Wood Gulch. The preliminary assessment was updated in 2007 in preparation for potential listing on EPA’s NPL. The listing occurred in 2009, which is when the Remedial Investigation began. Prior to being listed, the site was known as the Superior Waste Rock site. A second time-critical removal action was conducted in 2010 and a third in 2011, on the basis of the initial results obtained from the 2009 field events. The costs of the three removal actions totalled approximately $2.7 million.
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