Qualla: Blue Ledge Mine https://qualla.com/blue-ledge-mine en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:03 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/9/r/2/q/blue-ledge-mine-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Blue Ledge Mine https://qualla.com/blue-ledge-mine Blue Ledge Mine: Introduction https://qualla.com/blue-ledge-mine/ Photo credit Presentation to the U.S. EPA Hardrock Mining Conference by On-Scene Coordinator, Pete Jones., Public domain. No fish swim in Joe Creek. The stream runs through the Siskiyou Mountains with water so contaminated by cadmium, copper, lead, arsenic, and zinc that nothing can survive in it. The source of this poison sits at 4,800 feet elevation, three miles south of the California-Oregon border: the Blue Ledge Mine, one of the largest mining operations in the region's history, now a Superfund site where more than 70,000 tons of toxic waste rock once lay scattered across steep hillsides and narrow drainage channels.

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Image: Presentation to the U.S. EPA Hardrock Mining Conference by On-Scene Coordinator, Pete Jones. | Public domain

]]> Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/r/2/q/blue-ledge-mine-wp/9r2q-blue-ledge-mine-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Blue Ledge Mine: Gold Seekers Find Copper https://qualla.com/blue-ledge-mine/ Photo credit Presentation to the U.S. EPA Hardrock Mining Conference by On-Scene Coordinator, Pete Jones., Public domain. Three miners panning for gold in Joe Creek discovered the Blue Ledge deposit in 1898. They had come looking for placer gold but found something the new century would hunger for: copper. Mining operations began in 1905, ramping up dramatically as World War I drove demand for the m...

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Image: Presentation to the U.S. EPA Hardrock Mining Conference by On-Scene Coordinator, Pete Jones. | Public domain

]]> Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/r/2/q/blue-ledge-mine-wp/9r2q-blue-ledge-mine-gold-seekers-find-copper.mp3 0:06 2 full Blue Ledge Mine: Brief Boom, Long Silence https://qualla.com/blue-ledge-mine/ Photo credit Presentation to the U.S. EPA Hardrock Mining Conference by On-Scene Coordinator, Pete Jones., Public domain. The mine fell quiet after 1920, a victim of peacetime economics. For nearly a decade, the tunnels stood empty and the tramway rusted. Then in 1930, operations briefly resumed, extracting another 2,600 tons of ore before shutting down permanently. The underground excavations stret...

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Image: Presentation to the U.S. EPA Hardrock Mining Conference by On-Scene Coordinator, Pete Jones. | Public domain

]]> Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/r/2/q/blue-ledge-mine-wp/9r2q-blue-ledge-mine-brief-boom-long-silence.mp3 0:06 3 full Blue Ledge Mine: Acid Bleeds from Stone https://qualla.com/blue-ledge-mine/ Photo credit Presentation to the U.S. EPA Hardrock Mining Conference by On-Scene Coordinator, Pete Jones., Public domain. Sulfide deposits react with air and water in a process called acid mine drainage. Weathering oxidizes sulfur minerals to sulfate and acid, a reaction accelerated by naturally occurring microbes that feast on reduced minerals. The resulting sulfuric acid leaches metals from waste ...

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Image: Presentation to the U.S. EPA Hardrock Mining Conference by On-Scene Coordinator, Pete Jones. | Public domain

]]> Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/r/2/q/blue-ledge-mine-wp/9r2q-blue-ledge-mine-acid-bleeds-from-stone.mp3 0:06 4 full Blue Ledge Mine: Superfund Intervention https://qualla.com/blue-ledge-mine/ Photo credit Presentation to the U.S. EPA Hardrock Mining Conference by On-Scene Coordinator, Pete Jones., Public domain. In 2006, the Environmental Protection Agency authorized $484,302 for emergency response at Blue Ledge, classifying it as a Superfund site requiring Time-Critical Removal Action. Workers relocated waste rock from drainage channels, constructed an open limestone channel to neutrali...

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Image: Presentation to the U.S. EPA Hardrock Mining Conference by On-Scene Coordinator, Pete Jones. | Public domain

]]> Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/r/2/q/blue-ledge-mine-wp/9r2q-blue-ledge-mine-superfund-intervention.mp3 0:06 5 full Blue Ledge Mine: Entombed in Plastic https://qualla.com/blue-ledge-mine/ Photo credit Presentation to the U.S. EPA Hardrock Mining Conference by On-Scene Coordinator, Pete Jones., Public domain. Engineering/Remediation Resources Group completed the permanent repository in 2010. Workers excavated a containment area below the mine surface and lined it with high-density polyethylene, then covered that liner with gravel for drainage and a clean soil cushion to prevent punctu...

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Image: Presentation to the U.S. EPA Hardrock Mining Conference by On-Scene Coordinator, Pete Jones. | Public domain

]]> Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/r/2/q/blue-ledge-mine-wp/9r2q-blue-ledge-mine-entombed-in-plastic.mp3 0:06 6 full