Barite Hill/Nevada Goldfields covers 795 acres in McCormick County, South Carolina. Nevada Goldfields operated a gold and silver mine there from 1991 to 1995, using heap leach methods. After the mine closed, the Main Pit filled with highly acidic water containing dissolved metals. The EPA added the site to the National Priorities List (NPL) in April 2009. The NPL is the federal list of contaminated sites that need investigation and cleanup.
The EPA has identified 25 contaminants of concern. These include metals such as aluminum, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, copper, lead, nickel, selenium, thallium, vanadium, and zinc, along with antimony, barium, iron, and manganese. Contamination appears in groundwater, soil, leachate, sludge, surface water, and sediment. Hawe Creek and its tributaries have been affected. People who eat fish from the Hawe Creek fishery face a health threat, and a nearby drinking water reservoir is also at risk. The site poses risks from ingesting or touching contamination in soil, groundwater, surface water, and sediment.
Between 2007 and 2008, the EPA completed interim cleanup work. This included demolishing an on-site furnace building, neutralizing over 2,000 pounds of acids and bases, capping 250,000 cubic yards of acid-producing waste rock, and treating wastes in the Acid Pit Area. In 2009, the EPA installed a monitoring system to track the waste rock cap and Main Pit. Studies completed between 2018 and 2020 showed that groundwater moving through waste rock is a major source of acidity, metals, and sulfate entering the pit lake. The EPA has also performed multiple removal actions at the site between October 2007 and June 2024. The site is divided into five operable units. In September 2020, the EPA issued an Interim Record of Decision for Operable Unit 1, which covers the Pit Lake System. Planned cleanup methods for that unit include a bottom liner cap, in-ground neutralization, institutional controls, a vertical engineered barrier, sedimentation treatment, and solidification and stabilization of contaminants in place. Remedial design for Operable Unit 1 is estimated to finish between May and July 2028. No decision documents have been issued yet for the remaining four units.
Physical construction of the cleanup has not yet begun. The EPA currently has insufficient data to determine whether human exposure is under control or whether groundwater migration is stabilized. The EPA and the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control oversee ongoing work at the site.
Community members can stay involved through fact sheets, public notices, and public meetings organized by the EPA. Site records are available at the McCormick County Library at 201 Railroad Avenue in McCormick, South Carolina. Two EPA staff members are available to answer questions: Community Involvement Coordinator Zariah Lewis and Remedial Project Manager Candice Teichert.
