San Juan Mining and Reclamation Conference from Alex Pullen on Vimeo.
This video was produced by Alex Pullen and James Mirabal for the Mountain Studies Institute, based out of Silverton Colorado. The film covers the two day event itself and is targeted for High School students. Upon completion MSI delivered the film to High Schools around the San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado in hopes of inspiring the next generation of scientist and advocates that will help our communities clean up the historic mines, waste sites, and mills throughout Colorado.
The Mountain Studies Institute, along with their partners, host an annual San Juan Mining and Reclamation Conference that each year highlights a different San Juan Mountain communities’ mining heritage and successes in addressing mine remediation and water quality improvement. The conference is free and open to the public, and provides an educational opportunity for the public and other stakeholders to learn from industry professional about the science and policy of mining, mine lands remediation, improving mining practices, and water quality as it pertains to non-point source pollution.
The San Juan Mining and Reclamation Conference provides an opportunity to discuss, educate and collaborate on the importance of clean up and reclamation of abandoned mines like the Gold King for public health. There are hundreds of mine adits, just like the Gold King that leak contaminated water into Cement Creek, and thereby the Animas River, every day. The importance of clean up and reclamation of all our upstream mines on water quality was horrifically apparent this month, but serves as a reminder of what we are silently contending with every day.