Multistate Trust works on cleaning up Treasure Hill mine

Some representatives from the Multistate Environmental Response Trust held a meeting Oct. 14 in the Pioche Town Hall to speak to residents regarding the environmental clean-up that is already underway in the town.   

As a result of Treasure Hill mine operations in the past, there are higher than acceptable deposits of lead and arsenic in the contaminated soil near the entrance of the mine. After decades of rain and snow runoff, the contaminated soil has traveled downhill toward residential lots. 

In 2011 the Multistate Trust was created as part of the court-appointed Tronox bankruptcy. Multistate manages a program related to approximately 1,100 sites associated with clean-up operations. The Multistate Trust’s clean-up and administrative funds were provided entirely as part of the Tronox bankruptcy, and not the state or federal government. 

Multistate Trust strives to inform and seek input. This public meeting was held in Pioche to issue site-specific notices, fact sheets and technical documents. Residents were invited to walk around and ask questions at the display tables. 

The work has already begun on some of the affected residential lots. The scope of work involves using shovels and machinery to remove two feet of soil and then replace that with new dirt. 

Multistate Trust will also try to contain the potentially contaminated soils near the mine entrance so that future storm runoff will not bring mud down to the residential lots or result in mud on Main Street. The completion date for the project is likely around the end of Dec. 2021.