2001 Mining History Association Field Trip

 

12th Annual Conference, June 14-17, 2001

Montana Tech

Butte, Montana

 

PHOTO GALLERY 2

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The Badger State Mine headframe and hoist house are located on the north side of the mining district.

The Diamond Mine headframe stands on a hill overlooking downtown Butte to the right and the Granite Mountain Mine to the left.

 

The Belmont Mine headframe sits near the edge of the Berkeley Pit, east of downtown Butte.

The Travona Mine headframe is near the southern edge of the mining district.

 

(Above) The Kelly Mine Shafts are on the north side of the Berkeley Pit. To recover the large reserve of deep, lower grade ore surrounding the many old underground mines on Butte Hill, Anaconda developed a block caving system at the Kelly in the late-1940s.  Caving was successful and continued until 1967.  The economics at that time forced the decision to abandon the Kelly and switch completely to surface mining in the Berkeley Pit which had begun as an experiment at the same time as underground caving.  (1993 photo) 

 

(Right)  A view of the Berkeley Pit when it was operating in the 1970s.  When mining was stopped in 1982, the pit began to fill with water contaminated by drainage from the old underground mine workings, rock dumps, and tailings areas.  (1972 ACMC photo, Library of Congress)

 



View of the Berkeley Pit looking northeast from downtown Butte.  The pit has partially filled with runoff and mine drainage. The pit is expected to fill completely in the early 2020s at which time an expanded water treatment scheme will likely be necessary.  (1993 photo)

Southeast view across the Berkeley Pit toward the Montana Resources’ Continental Pit at the base of the mountain.  The Anaconda concentrator (center right), originally built to process the ore from the Berkeley Pit, now processes ore from the Continental. (1993 photo)


Photo Credits: Mike Kaas

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