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Site Report: Former Utica Mine

Site Name: Former Utica Mine
Address: Approximately 14 miles south of Deering, Deering, AK 99736
File Number: 510.38.002
Hazard ID: 4141
Status: Active
Staff: Brittani Mack, 9072628205 brittani.mack@alaska.gov
Latitude: 65.899687
Longitude: -163.008955
Horizontal Datum:WGS84

We make every effort to ensure the data presented here is accurate based on the best available information currently on file with DEC. It is therefore subject to change as new information becomes available. We recommend contacting the assigned project staff prior to making decisions based on this information.

Problems/Comments

A Phase I site assessment carried out in June 2005 determined that this abandoned gold mine is contaminated with DRO, RRO, arsenic, barium, benzene, cadmium, total chromium, lead, mercury, silver, and selenium. Drums containing unknown substances are present. Asbestos and lead-based paint may also be present. The site is adjacent to the Inmachuk River, which is currently used for subsistence fishing by residents of Deering.

Action Information

Action Date Action Description DEC Staff
5/2/2005 Brownfields Award Site confirmed by EPA approval. FY 2005 STRP funds awarded to the Northwest Arctic Borough (for the City of Deering and Native Village of Deering) for Phase I and limited sampling on the former Utica Mine site. Contract # 18-7000-20. Current status: Phase I with limited sampling completed in 2005. NANA Corp currently listed as RP, last work done in 2011. John Carnahan
6/24/2005 GIS Position Updated The GIS position is very rough using interpolation of a map with NAD 83. As more information is gained about the site, the GIS coordinates will be updated in the Database. Deborah Williams
6/24/2005 Site Added to Database Former mine site has high levels of heavy metals potentially migrating towards a stream. Deborah Williams
6/24/2005 Site Ranked Using the AHRM Site was ranked using the new ETM and a current exposure was identified. Deborah Williams
7/7/2005 Meeting or Teleconference Held Staff briefed division director about results of the Phase I site assessment. Sharon Richmond
7/7/2005 Preliminary Assessment Approved Reviewed and approved site assessment report. Comment letter will be sent out within a few days. Sharon Richmond
1/23/2007 Potentially Responsible Party/State Interest Letter Letter to NANA Regional, Inc. sent stating that as the owner of the Former Utica Mine, they may be responsible for response actions taken by the State and further characterization and cleanup. Requested a workplan be submitted to DEC by March 15, 2007. Also requested that they place "No Trespassing" signage around the property and submit photographs/verification to DEC. Lisa Maserjian
2/9/2007 Exposure Tracking Model Ranking Initial Lisa Maserjian
3/28/2007 Update or Other Action PR letter and questionnaire sent to BLM John Halverson
4/9/2007 Update or Other Action Get a response from BLM stating they would like a 60 day extension to the request on their RP status. Send a letter back allowing for the extension and expecting their response by June 29, 2007. Lisa Maserjian
4/9/2007 Update or Other Action Receive work plan for Former Utica Mine site from NANA's consultant Travis/Peterson. Lisa Maserjian
3/3/2009 Update or Other Action Contaminated Sites reviewed and commented on a 2008 Cleanup Report for Utica Mine near Deering, Alaska. Some of the camp buildings are being demolished and areas of petroleum and lead impacted soils are being excavated. A small monocell is being constructed on site for inert building debris, asbestos and lead impacted soil. Small areas (30 – 50 cubic yards) of petroleum impacted soil will be landspread on site. Work is scheduled for completion at the former gold mining camp in 2009 Jeff Brownlee
11/10/2009 Document, Report, or Work plan Review - other New assigned project manager reviewed the available historical document and correspondence records for the contaminated site work conducted to date at the Utica sites. ADEC participated in technical planning and project team meetings with stakeholders from various State Departments, the NANA Regional Corporation, and their respective technical support divisions. Curtis Dunkin
6/15/2010 Update or Other Action ADEC sent an action request letter to the responsible party (NANA Corp.) requesting they postpone/reschedule their June 2010 mobilization which was intended to continue ongoing remediation and site characterization work based upon a 2008 Corrective Action Plan. In the letter, ADEC outlined outstanding deficiencies with the work and corrective action plans which NANA had submitted to date including further site characterization required by ADEC, developing a conceptual site model and agreeing upon potential exposure pathways, determining naturally occurring background levels of inorganic compounds, determining and agreeing upon cleanup levels, and developing treatment or disposal plans for contaminated soil and hazardous materials. Curtis Dunkin
8/25/2010 Document, Report, or Work plan Review - other ADEC reviewed the draft August 2010 Site Characterization Work Plan and submitted comments to the NANA Regional Corporation and their contracted technical support team. Curtis Dunkin
8/27/2010 Cleanup Level(s) Approved ADEC received responses to comments on the draft 2010 Site Characterization Work Plan from the NANA Regional Corporation. ADEC notified the NANA Reg. Corp. that ADEC did not concur with the majority of the responses; however, ADEC provided concurrence and approval to the NANA Reg. Corp.'s request to use of the 18AAC75 Arctic Zone Cleanup Levels as applicable and relevant to the contaminated site decisions for the Former Utica Mine sites. Curtis Dunkin
1/13/2011 Workplan Requested ADEC submitted an action request letter to the NANA Regional Corporation requesting additional action to address ongoing information and data gap concerns raised by ADEC in association with prior investigations at the site; additionally to provide ADEC with a report of the work conducted as part of the 2010 mobilization including contaminated site work that was not conducted under an ADEC-approved work plan. Curtis Dunkin
3/28/2011 Document, Report, or Work plan Review - other ADEC reviewed the draft 2011 Interim Site Inspection and Characterization Report and submitted comments to the NANA Regional Corporation. The draft report summarized work that was conducted during the 2010 field season to conduct assessments of site conditions and stockpile integrity, focused soil sampling and analysis, and site reconnaissance and debris cleanup. Curtis Dunkin
9/26/2011 Update or Other Action ADEC received and reviewed the EPA's Bevill Amendment Determination letter dated March 17, 2011 from the NANA Regional Corporation. ADEC participated in a stakeholder and technical planning meeting with representatives from the NANA Reg. Corp. and respective technical and legal support divisions to discuss EPA's determination, the site status, and future contaminated site work needs including characterization, cleanup, and land use controls. Curtis Dunkin
9/29/2011 Site Visit ADEC attempted to conduct a site visit at the former mine camp site with NANA and TPECI representatives. Due to inclement weather while flying enroute to the site, the group was forced to return to Kotzebue. Another site visit attempt is planned for 2012. Curtis Dunkin
10/20/2011 Document, Report, or Work plan Review - other ADEC received and reviewed responses to its comments for the draft 2011 Interim Site Inspection and Characterization Report. ADEC participated in a comment resolution and technical planning meeting with representatives from the NANA Regional Corporation and their contracted technical support. ADEC completed its final review of responses and submitted approval of the final report. Curtis Dunkin
3/14/2012 Update or Other Action ADEC received an impartial third party waiver request from the NANA Regional Corporation; requesting ADEC's consideration and approval to allow NANA to utilize Sivuniq Inc., a NANA subsidiary company, to conduct the contaminated site work that is planned for 2012 and subsequent years. ADEC issued an approval of the waiver request, conditional that it specifically and exclusively applied to Sivuniq Inc. conducting contaminated site work associated with the former Utica Mine. Curtis Dunkin
7/25/2012 Document, Report, or Work plan Review - other ADEC reviewed the draft 2012 Site Characterization Work Plan and submitted comments to the NANA Regional Corporation. Curtis Dunkin
9/4/2012 Site Characterization Workplan Approved ADEC issued an approval to NANA to finalize the work plan document and to implement the 2012 Site Characterization Work Plan field. ADEC received and reviewed multiple rounds of responses to comments and participated in technical planning and resolution with the NANA Regional Corporation for the work plan. ADEC had also previously reviewed, commented, and approved portions of the work plan objectives and activities to be implemented during the interim of having received the draft work plan in July and the approval of the final in September; including background soil sampling, stockpile maintenance, site reconnaissance and staging, and other activities. Curtis Dunkin
9/19/2012 Cleanup Level(s) Approved ADEC received updated site and soil stockpile sampling and analysis data from the NANA Regional Corporation and participated in several rounds of correspondence and technical planning with the NANA Regional Corporation project team. ADEC reviewed the 2012 data as well as NANA's request to consider arsenic at the site to be a non-anthropogenic source. ADEC issue a determination to NANA that the site use history, available data, and updated contaminated site mode all indicate that elevated concentrations of arsenic across the sites are naturally occurring and likely the result of both natural geologic as well as mining actions at the site; and subsequently approved NANA's request to place soils in stockpiles with concentrations arsenic less than 43 mg/kg into the onsite land farm. ADEC also provided preliminary determination and conditional approval to NANA that it would consider soil arsenic concentrations of up to the 40-50 mg/kg range as naturally occurring. Curtis Dunkin
3/8/2013 Meeting or Teleconference Held ADEC participated in a technical planning meeting with representatives from NANA Regional Corporation and their contracted technical support and field implementation team to discuss the preliminary draft 2012 Site Characterization Report, the site status, and the objectives and activities associated with the planned 2013 contaminated site work. Curtis Dunkin
4/5/2013 Document, Report, or Work plan Review - other ADEC reviewed the draft 2012 Site Characterization Report and submitted review comments to the NANA Regional Corporation. Curtis Dunkin
5/30/2013 Document, Report, or Work plan Review - other ADEC received and reviewed responses to comments from the NANA Regional Corporation for the draft 2012 Site Characterization Report. ADEC participated in ongoing technical planning and resolution and submitted review determinations and additional comments to NANA. Curtis Dunkin
12/23/2014 Update or Other Action ADEC submitted a request for a site status update to the NANA Regional Corporation via email; requesting a follow on planning meeting to occur sometime in the early months of 2015 to resume stakeholder coordination and finalization of the draft 2012 Site Characterization Report as well as the ongoing development of alternative cleanup levels, site remedy determinations, and respective approvals. Curtis Dunkin
12/10/2015 Document, Report, or Work plan Review - other ADEC received copies of two reports from the NANA Regional Corporation that summarized the contaminated site work which was conducted during the 2013 and 2014 field seasons. ADEC had not received prior draft versions of the reports and subsequently had not conducted reviewed or submitted comments. The work conducted was primarily associated with completing objectives and site actions that were identified in the 2012 Site Characterization Work Plan and respective report. Curtis Dunkin
6/19/2019 Update or Other Action Site location was updated on this date. Coordinates for this site are used to determine the presence and position of the site on BLM’s ANCSA Conveyed Land web map. Rebekah Reams
2/26/2020 Update or Other Action Brownfield file for this site 510.57.001 consolidated into CS file 510.38.002 in fileroom and Fairbanks drive on this date. Cascade Galasso-Irish
6/19/2020 Meeting or Teleconference Held ADEC participated in a teleconference with representatives from the Maniilaq Association to discuss the site history, status, and path forward. Actions from the meeting included continuing stakeholder coordination, updating the status of site cleanup records, and evaluating and prioritizing any ongoing protectiveness concerns associated with any remaining contamination. Curtis Dunkin
12/15/2021 Meeting or Teleconference Held ADEC participated in a planning meeting with representatives from the NANA Regional Development Corporation to discuss the site history, status, and remaining cleanup requirements and paths forward. Curtis Dunkin
9/21/2022 Meeting or Teleconference Held DEC staff participated in a planning meeting with NANA Regional Corporation representatives to discuss the site and a path forward for site cleanup. Action items from the meeting is for DEC to respond to a 2014 letter proposing background levels for arsenic and chromium and review the site file and provide a summary of data gaps. Erica Blake
1/31/2023 Update or Other Action DEC sent a letter in response to a 2014 letter from NANA Regional Corporation proposing background levels for arsenic and chromium. The response letter also described the data gaps at the site needing to be addressed. Erica Blake
10/23/2023 Exposure Tracking Model Ranking A new updated ranking with ETM has been completed for source area 75113 Utica Camp Buildings . Kelly Ireland

Contaminant Information

Name Level Description Media Comments

Control Type

Type Details

Requirements

Description Details

No associated sites were found.

Missing Location Data

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State of Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation

P.O. Box 111800
Juneau, AK 99811-1800
Phone: 907-465-5066
Fax: 907-465-5245
TDD: 800-770-8973
Physical Location: 410 Willoughby