Background:

The Site is an abandoned copper mine located in the Town of Corinth, Vermont. It includes three historic mining areas: Union, Eureka (also known as Corinth), and Smith (also known as Bicknell) mines. Together, the three mines that comprise the Site are the most northerly of the copper mines comprising the larger Orange County copper belt.  The other mines in this area include the Elizabeth Mine and the Ely Copper Mine, which are both NPL Superfund sites.

The waste piles at the Site extend over about 15 acres with an estimated volume of 85,000 cubic yards (cy) and are acting as a continuing source of contamination for the surface water and sediment of Pike Hill Brook and Cookeville Brook Tributary #4. The Union and Eureka mines and the associated waste piles cover an area of about 14 acres and contain an estimated 81,000 cy of waste rock and tailing. The Smith mine and associated waste piles extend over an area of about 1 acre and contain about 4,000 cy of waste rock. The remaining areas of the Site include mine openings, historic foundations from the former mining operations and undeveloped woodlands.

The mine waste generates mining influenced water characterized by a low pH leachate with elevated metals, particularly aluminum, copper, iron and zinc, which is released via stormwater and other routes into the local waterways.

Copper ore was initially discovered in the vicinity of the Smith Mine on Pike Hill in 1845. In about 1853, mining of the Eureka deposit began at the peak of Pike Hill. Underground operations at the Eureka and Union Mines began in 1863. In 1881, the known portion of the ore body at the Union Mine was exhausted. The Smith Mine closed in 1882, leaving a relatively small area of waste rock piles and underground workings. The Eureka Mine ore mill closed in 1907 and activities were poorly documented between 1907 and 1915, which suggests that limited mining took place there during that period. Operations at the Eureka and Union Mines resumed under a single company (Pike Hill Mines Company) between 1916 and 1919. The magnetic separation and froth flotation processes were used during the two post 1900 operations resulting in the creation of the tailing waste at the Site. During the 1880’s ore from the Pike Hill mines was brought to the Ely Copper Mine for smelting. The underground workings at the Pike Hill mines were never reopened, but during the late 1940s and early 1950s, portions of the ore dumps were trucked to the Elizabeth Mine mill for processing. The only remaining Site buildings were destroyed by fire in 1960.