Talk:Berkeley Pit
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[edit] History?
It would be nice to have a history of this pit, for instance, how it got its name. Tmangray 06:11, 19 December 2006 (UTC)
- Added some; working on more. Geologyguy 02:14, 20 December 2006 (UTC)
- Thanks for the additions, but how did the Berkeley Mine get its name? Was it named for the city or a person with the name Berkeley? Tmangray 21:37, 20 December 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Why Closed?
I can't find an explanation of WHY the mine was closed anywhere. Is this known? Why did ARCO buy it only to close it down shortly after? Matthew Brown (Morven) (T:C) 10:06, 4 March 2006 (UTC)
They just stop mining it. They no longer needed the spot, nor did they want to continue pumping out the water that was constantly coming in. --69.145.122.209 23:12, 3 April 2006 (UTC)
- ARCO bought it because in the late 1970s, oil companies had lots of money and were expanding into all sorts of non-oil ventures (Mobil bought Montgomery Ward, Gulf Oil acquired the real estate development firm that was behind Reston Virginia; others got in to nuclear power and uranium mining). The purchase was probably poorly thought out. The mine was closed because of economics - after Chile nationalized Anaconda's properties, and given the costs of operating in the US (both direct costs and environmental issues), ARCO could not sustain the operation economically. Much of the properties and mineral rights (but not much of the environmental liability) were sold by ARCO to a Montana entrepreneur, Dennis Washington, whose company Montana Resources now operates a much smaller pit operation, the Continental Pit, just east of the Berlekey Pit. The Continental Pit has been mined since 1986 (with a hiatus in 2000-2003 because of low copper prices and high electricity costs) and is highly economical today (2006) thanks to the high prices of copper and molybdenum. These high prices are being driven largely by industrialization and increased demand by China. The mine is likely making more money on by-product molybdenum (about 1 pound per ton) than on the copper they produce (about 6 pounds per ton). --Geologyguy 14:58, 29 May 2006 (UTC)
[edit] YouTube links
This article is one of thousands on Wikipedia that have a link to YouTube in it. Based on the External links policy, most of these should probably be removed. I'm putting this message here, on this talk page, to request the regular editors take a look at the link and make sure it doesn't violate policy. In short: 1. 99% of the time YouTube should not be used as a source. 2. We must not link to material that violates someones copyright. If you are not sure if the link on this article should be removed or you would like to help spread this message contact us on this page. Thanks, ---J.S (t|c) 04:04, 10 November 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Largest Superfund Site
Can the reference to the largest superfund site be verified, deleted or qualified. Tar Creek in Oklahoma also claims itself as the largest superfund site, encompassing 50 sq miles. The closest I've found is :http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2002/March/02_enrd_180.htm which indicates it is the superfund site with the largest body of contaminated water in the United States. However, as the Hudson River is also making that claim about a 200 mile stretch from Hudson Falls to the Battery, even this is a dubious claim.Bangfrog 22:01, 23 November 2006 (UTC)
[edit] The pumps
It's my understanding that the pumps keeping the mine dry were in the nearby Kelley mine, an underground mine. Sounds picky, but just from the article one might assume that the pumps were in the Pit itself. This kind of thing can probably be verified by checking old articles in the Montana Standard (not an easy thing come by in LA, or I'd do it). BSMet94 20:16, 4 January 2007 (UTC)
- For decades (from the 19-teens at least into the '40s) the primary pumping station for all the underground mines was at the High Ore mine. I suspect that the High Ore pumping system was used for the Berkeley Pit as well, inasmuch as the pit water drained into the underground mine system, which was all interconnected and ultimately drained to the High Ore. The Kelley was the last and most modern of the underground mines, and it may well have been used for pumping after it was closed (1975 or so) until the pit itself was shut down (1982-83). I will try to find out. Cheers Geologyguy 20:48, 4 January 2007 (UTC)
- You may be right. I just seem to remember that when the pumps were finally shut down (late 80s), that the dewatering pumps active at the time were in the Kelley. I just don't have a hard reference handy.BSMet94 00:26, 5 January 2007 (UTC)
