What did the mine contain that has now mixed with that water?
Copper, arsenic, cadmium, zinc, and sulfuric acid. That is what it contains. The water has a pH of about 2.5. It is about the acidic strength of lemon juice. It is a permanent Superfund site.
The Berkeley Pit (click here) is a former open pit copper mine in Butte, Montana. Approximately 320 million tons of ore and over 700 million tons of waste rock were mined from the Butte Hill. Put another way, the Berkeley Pit and Butte mines produced enough copper to pave a four-lane highway four inches thick from Butte to Salt Lake City and 30 miles beyond. Today, the Pit is filling with highly contaminated water, and managed as a federal Superfund environmental cleanup site.
The companies that made their money have long gone. Today, it is a chronic concern and a permanent cost to the USA. Why go there in the first place?
We have plenty of pennies to melt down and don't really need it.
