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Type of facility or site:
The Loflin Gold Mine Site consists of those residential properties along Loflin Hill Road with arsenic values in the surficial soils above the EPA Removal Action Level (RAL) of 40 parts per million (ppm). Sampling events took place at the Site in November 2000, April 2001, August 2004 and February 2005. A total of 38 individual properties/lots have been sampled. Of these, 8 properties/lots were found to exceed the RAL for arsenic in surface soil.
Site Description:
The NCDENR Superfund Section identified the Site during ongoing efforts to prioritize 328 known abandoned gold mine sites in the State for possible hazard ranking screening. According to the NCDENR, the Loflin mine occurs in a mineral district having ore with associated arsenic and the Site has become a residential area. Although arsenic in soils above the ore deposits at the Site is naturally occurring, the availability of arsenic to residents through the soil exposure pathway has been enhanced by mining operations and residential development. The mine was operated intermittently between the mid-1800s, the first decade of the twentieth century and then reportedly operated again briefly during the 1930s.
During the late 1800s, concentrates may have been treated through a cyanide process. Evidence of activity at the site consists of excavated banks, collapsed underground workings, tailings piles, prospect pits and trenches and a raised tramway roadbed, over five hundred feet long, constructed of mine dump material.
Actions Taken:
The Removal Action was completed on March 14, 2005. The Removal Action addressed the developed portions of these properties and included a combination of excavation of contaminated soils with backfill and capping, which provides a two foot barrier of clean soil between the underlying ore body and the surface, consisting of one and a half feet of clay and six inches of topsoil. Areas not addressed included under mobile homes, driveways and utility sheds; these areas are considered by EPA to be sufficiently capped.
EPA’s Removal Action also did not address areas of the contaminated properties which are considered undisturbed in accordance with Section 104(a)(3)(A) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, which places limitations against the response (clean up) of a naturally occurring substance in its unaltered form.
Community Involvement:
Prior to the Removal Action, EPA CIC Sherryl Carbonaro personally visited many of the residents to distribute sample results and site fact sheets. Two availability sessions were held on October 21, 2004. A Site Community Relations Plan was written which fully documents all community involvement for the site.
Future Considerations:
The Removal Action did not address areas under mobile homes, utility sheds and driveways, as well as, undeveloped portions of the contaminated properties. These actions do not fall under EPA’s Removal Action Authority and North Carolina Law does not grant NCDENR the authority to require land use controls at this Site; however, it is EPA’s understanding with the State that the NCDENR will provide data, maps and technical assistance to local government in efforts to implement practical measures to ensure the proper future use of the land at and surrounding the Site.
Since the properties were seeded during the winter, ERRS will have to return to the site to continue to monitor and supplement grass growth into Spring/Summer 2005.
Contacts:
Sherryl Carbonaro
EPA Community Involvement Coordinator
US Environmental Protection Agency
61 Forsyth Street
Atlanta, Georgia 30303
404-562-8611
Jim Bateson
Chief, Superfund Site Evaluation And Removal Branch
North Carolina Division of Waste Management
1646 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, North Carolina 27699
919-508-8447
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