The Barite Hill/Nevada Goldfields site is located approximately 3 miles south of McCormick, South
Carolina between US 378 and US 221 on the northern side of Road 30 in McCormick County, South
Carolina. The mine site is relatively remote; there are no buildings, homes, or commercial buildings
within 0.5 miles of the boundary. The site actively mined gold from 1991 to 1995. From 1995 until
Nevada Goldfields filed for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy in 1999, the reclamation of the site was being
addressed by Nevada Goldfields. On July 7, 1999 Nevada Goldfields handed the facility’s keys to
SCDHEC and abandoned the site.
The site is located along a topographic high ridge area forming the headwaters of an unnamed
tributary to Hawes Creek. The topography of the area consists of rolling hills with ridgelines at an
elevation of about 500 feet. Within the site, the ridgeline comprising the site has a high point of
about 510 feet and an average elevation of approximately 480 feet.
The permitted mine site totals 795.2 acres. Of this total, 659.7 acres are designated as buffer area
(areas not disturbed beyond the pre-mine natural state); therefore the maximum disturbance area is
135.5 acres.
The facility used a cyanide solution in a heap leach process to extract gold from ore. There are 7
processing ponds onsite containing an unknown amount of free-liquids. Three large, multi-acre,
waste rock piles contaminated with cyanide are left onsite. Each waste rock pile has the potential for
producing acid. Storm water run on and runoff are not controlled at the site. The Main Pit from the
mining operations remains. The pit contains approximately 100 million gallons of water with a pH
of 2 ~ 2.2 and a high dissolved metal content. Seeps from the main pit containing acidic water with
high dissolved metal content are being released to the northern unnamed tributaries of Hawes Creek
which borders the pit.
As per a referral by the State of South Carolina, the EPA Region 4 Removal Program is currently conducting a Removal Assessment according to the National Contingency Plan.
A January 17th site walkthrough revealed the need for additional investigation and data gathering in order to make the Removal Assessment determination. Several representatives from the State were present and part of the debriefing. EPA Region 4 Site Assessment also attended the walkthrough as well as several national experts to advise the OSC on the situation.
A team comprised of scientific specialists from ORD and ERT are currently writing the coordinated workplan for the execution of the field sampling event. This event is being closely coordinated with the State.
Tentative plans for the field sampling event are scheduled for March 07.
In the event that a removal action is required, the OSC has already received a potentially responsible party investigative report. The EPA attorney is currently coordinating with the State on the status of these parties.
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