The Historic Lisbon Valley Mining District (Site) is located southeast of La Sal in San Juan County, Utah. Miners discovered copper in the area in 1892 and they expanded their mining activities in the late 1920’s after the additional discovery of ore bodies containing uranium and vanadium. The area remained a significant producer and area of exploration until mining operations dramatically slowed in the 1980’s.
In 2022, EPA, BLM and the State of Utah identified two abandoned mines where recreational human exposure to mine waste is evident, the downstream migration of mine waste is significant during flash floods and no apparent remediation has occurred. These two abandoned mines are the Radon Mine and the Columbia Shaft.
EPA will conduct a CERCLA Time-Critical Removal Actions at these two locations in the Fall 2022 to control erosion and limit human exposure to contaminated mine waste.
