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Almaden Quicksilver Calcines Removal Project 2/16/24 by Ronald Horii
This is an update to the status of the calcines removal project at the Hacienda and Deep Gulch areas of Almaden Quicksilver County Park. For reference and to appreciate the changes, see these pictures of the project from July, September, and November of 2023: "Almaden Quicksilver Calcines Removal Project 2023":
https://tinyurl.com/mhwj77fp. Calcines are rocks and sediment that were left over after mercury ore was processed to extract the mercury. They were considered a waste product and were dumped or used to pave roads. Regulatory agencies are concerned that there may be trace amounts of mercury in the calcines, and it could leach out and contaminate the watershed, so the calcines need to be removed. An earlier and larger calcines roads project involved the removal of calcines from park roads (https://tinyurl.com/mryvy38j). The current project removes them from hillsides above Deep Gulch and Alamitos Creek. Here's more information about the project: https://parks.sccgov.org/hacienda-and-deep-gulch-remediation-project. The pictures below show the Hacienda Staging Area and the cleanup work along Deep Gulch. Note that my comments are based on observation and reading documents. I'm not involved with the project in any way.
For park information and map, see: https://www.sccgov.org/sites/parks/parkfinder/Pages/AlmadenPark.aspx. For more information, news, events, and pictures of Almaden Quicksilver County Park and New Almaden, see: http://www.newalmaden.org/. For my pictures of Almaden Quicksilver, see: http://www.rhorii.com/#AQS
This is an update to the status of the calcines removal project at the Hacienda and Deep Gulch areas of Almaden Quicksilver County Park. For reference and to appreciate the changes, see these pictures of the project from July, September, and November of 2023: "Almaden Quicksilver Calcines Removal Project 2023":
https://tinyurl.com/mhwj77fp. Calcines are rocks and sediment that were left over after mercury ore was processed to extract the mercury. They were considered a waste product and were dumped or used to pave roads. Regulatory agencies are concerned that there may be trace amounts of mercury in the calcines, and it could leach out and contaminate the watershed, so the calcines need to be removed. An earlier and larger calcines roads project involved the removal of calcines from park roads (https://tinyurl.com/mryvy38j). The current project removes them from hillsides above Deep Gulch and Alamitos Creek. Here's more information about the project: https://parks.sccgov.org/hacienda-and-deep-gulch-remediation-project. The pictures below show the Hacienda Staging Area and the cleanup work along Deep Gulch. Note that my comments are based on observation and reading documents. I'm not involved with the project in any way.
For park information and map, see: https://www.sccgov.org/sites/parks/parkfinder/Pages/AlmadenPark.aspx. For more information, news, events, and pictures of Almaden Quicksilver County Park and New Almaden, see: http://www.newalmaden.org/. For my pictures of Almaden Quicksilver, see: http://www.rhorii.com/#AQS
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