Beal
The Beal Mountain Mine is a former gold mine located in the headwaters of German Gulch in the Pioneer Mountains, Silver Bow County, Montana, about 10 miles southwest of Fairmont (Gregson) Hot Springs. The mine ceased operations in 1999, leaving behind two open pits, waste rock piles, and a large heap leach pad. The open pit mining areas and waste rock piles have largely been stabilized and currently do not pose immediate environmental threats. However, the heap leach pad is a potential source of cyanide and metal contamination to German Gulch, which is a tributary to Silver Bow Creek and the Clark Fork River. Although the leach pad has been capped to prevent precipitation from entering the leach pad, water continues to enter the leach pad either from precipitation, snowmelt, or groundwater. The accumulating leach pad water would overtop the lower liner of the leach pad to contaminate the streams, if water was not removed on a regular basis. The removal and treatment of this water is a large expense for the U.S. Forest Service, who assumed responsibility for the site after the mine bankruptcy.
MBMG personnel are assisting the U.S. Forest Service in managing the Beal Mountain Mine in two ways. First, the MBMG Data Archives Program is indexing all the available documents for the site and digitizing documents that might be of use to the remediation efforts. Second, MBMG personnel from multiple groups are collaborating with other agencies (USGS, EPA, MT DEQ, and MT FWP) and the USFS environmental consultants to identify the best approaches to remediate.
2020 water treatment plant
2020 Beal leach pad and pit
Water treatment plant
South Beal Pit
Beal Mountain Mine main pit reclamation, with highwall and leach pad in the background
Leach pad, southeast corner looking east
Leach pad, southeast corner looking north
