EPA, mining firm end cleanup case

Chief Consolidated Mining Co. on Thursday announced a settlement in a case involving environmental cleanup near the town of Eureka in Juab County.

According to a news release, the U.S. District Court for Utah approved an order modifying an earlier consent decree executed by the company, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Justice Department. The order calls for the company to make annual payments of $225,000 per year for five years to settle a case dated Jan. 24, 2005.

Chief Consolidated Mining, a subsidiary of Vancouver, B.C.-based Andover Ventures, had previously been ordered to pay a judgment of $60 million, along with obligations for the transfer of property and obligations related to future earnings. Gordon Blankstein, Andover board chairman and chief executive officer, told the Deseret News that the latest court ruling supersedes the original decision. The order also allows the EPA access to Chief Consolidated's limestone quarry and to the Homansville area to obtain topsoil, limestone and road base material until Dec. 31, 2010. In addition, the company will execute an easement to allow the storage of road base material and/or topsoil on a designated area of its property for the town of Eureka for 25 years.

— Jasen Lee