Navajo Nation, New Mexico Reach Settlements Over Mine Spill

The Navajo Nation’s Department of Justice has settled with two mining companies to resolve claims stemming from a 2015 spill that sent wastewater downstream from the inactive Gold King Mine in southwestern Colorado.

Under the settlement with the Navajo Nation, Sunnyside Gold Corp. will pay the tribe $10 million. The state of New Mexico also has reached limited agreements with some defendants regarding its claims. The spill released 3 million gallons of wastewater that fouled rivers in three western states with a bright-yellow plume of arsenic, lead and other heavy metals. A federal contracting crew triggered the spill while prepararing for a possible cleanup.