The Environmental Protection Agency has finalized a plan for the cleanup of a Superfund site near Dewey-Humboldt in Yavapai County.
The Iron King Mine was listed on the EPA’s priorities list in 2008 and it’ll cost $85 million to remediate the site.
It contains 4 million cubic yards of mine tailings with high levels of arsenic and lead that have washed into drainages that flow to the Agua Fria River, and lead emissions, mine dust and spills have contaminated some residential areas.
Exposure to high levels of arsenic and lead threaten human health.
The EPA will consolidate the mine and smelter waste into a permanently covered holding cell they say will prevent it from leaking into waterways.
The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality removed the abandoned smelter sand stack in 2021.
EPA officials call the cleanup plan a “milestone” that paves the way for a final remedy.
The Iron King Mine dates back to the early 20th century and produced zinc, silver, lead and gold, and the Humboldt smelter was put into use in the late 1800s.