A $90 Million Settlement Is Reached in Ongoing Gold King Mine Spill Cleanup Efforts
The latest settlement involving the 2015 Gold King Mine spill will provide $90 million for the ongoing clean-up effort in San Juan County. The spill near Silverton turned the Animas river into a toxic orange sludge and sent three million gallons of heavy metal contaminated water through Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah as well as the tribal lands of the Ute and the Navajo Nation.
A crew hired by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency accidentally released the toxic wastewater during excavation aimed at cleaning up the abandoned mine.
Sunnyside Gold Corporation and its Canadian owner, Kinross Gold Corporation agreed to pay $40.9 million to the U.S. government, and another $4 million to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment according to a release from the EPA.
