#Suquash was the site of the first #CoalMine on #VancouverIsland. It still has lots of cool ruins & abandoned #mining #industrial machinery in the middle of the forest & on the beach below. It's very isolated & you'll likely see no one else around, if you go. It's just slightly north of #PortMcNeill town centre.

I often take friends here, when visiting North Island because the site has many different elements. The forest has a section where multiple trees were split down the middle by lightening strikes. New trees, plants & fungi are growing out of the burned out trees. The beach is full of prehistoric fossils of ancient marine animals. It is well worth a day visit. Follow flags to avoid getting lost there - it's easy to lose yourself in dense forest, if the site is unfamiliar to you. Carry a big stick & poke the ground before walking ahead - to avoid falling into hidden sinkholes.

The site still needs environmental clean up. There's still lots of black, greasy, toxic water that bubbles up from underground. The government only put up danger signs but they've otherwise abandoned this site.

More info on the #history of this site:
https://www.whattherock.ca/post/suquash-beach-vancouver-islands-first-coal-mine

My photos are from 2022 visit.

#VanIsle #AbandonedPlaces #ruins #Quatsino #PacificNorthwest #RoadTrips #PNW #ExploreMore #Backroads #OutdoorAdventures #BCMiningHistory #SilentSunday #InterestingPlaces #historical #AbandonedMines #abandoned

When Abandoned Mines Collapse

https://practical.engineering/blog/2025/5/6/when-abandoned-mines-collapse

#HackerNews #AbandonedMines #MineCollapse #Engineering #Safety #Environment

The only #ruins left at #abandoned No.8 coal mine in #Cumberland. There used to be a huge building here but it was demolished in the 90s. Before it was torn down, it was a popular party place for local #ComoxValley teenagers. All the old mine shafts have been blocked off for public safety. There is still a large abandoned building that was part of this former large coal mine site but it's really deep into the forest & you need to bushwhack your way there. We had very limited time on this past road trip so I stuck to showing my friends the 2 easiest accesses to cool #AbandonedPlaces.

Eight mines used to operate at Comox, named No. 1 Mine through to No. 8 Mine. The workings consisted of boreholes, air shafts, mine entries, & underground network of tunnels. A rail network was also developed to link the ore piles with the town & Union Bay. Old rail bed remain in place today as public trails. A series of survey monuments also remains on the surface today. These have been tracked down, beginning with a concrete monument located slightly below ground in the vicinity of Cumberland Park & recorded to match the maps of the underground workings with the surface-level features today.

The mines at #Comox were technically advanced for their time, with partial mechanization & electrification well before 1900. The first documented use of electricity underground was in the No. 4 Mine in 1891, when four electrically-driven coal-cutters were installed.

Canadian Collieries (owned by #Dunsmuir family) Ltd. operated coal mines on Vancouver Island, including the Wellington Mines near Nanaimo & Comox Mines at Cumberland. Comox Mines had earlier been operated by Union #Colliery Company, the first of the mines being opened in 1888. The last of the Comox Mines, the No.8 Mine, was closed in 1953.

#BCMiningHistory #AbandonedMines #VancouverIsland #VanIsle #PacificNorthwest #PNW #BChistory #VancouverIslandHistory #photography #graffiti #InTheForest #No8Mine #CoalMiningHistory

Some good news! Though potential contamination from long-term storage needs to be addressed (what else is new).

#EPA to Relocate Toxic #UraniumMine Waste from #NavajoNation

By Neely Bardwell, January 08, 2025

"The Environmental Protection Agency will move #uranium mine waste from #ChurchrockNewMexico to the #RedRock regional landfill where it can be safely stored forever.

"The federal agency signed an action memo to transport radioactive waste at the Quivira Mining Co. Churchrock Mine to a disposal site at the Red Rock regional landfill about six miles east of the Village of Thoreau. The cleanup will begin in early 2025 and continue for 6-8 years.

"For the Red Water Pond Road Community Association (#RWPRCA), which has advocated for waste removal since 2006, the decision marks a significant shift in addressing #UraniumContamination on Navajo land.

"'Removing the mine waste from our community will protect our health and finally put us back on a positive track to #Hózhǫ (balance),' said Teracita Keyanna, RPWPRCA executive committee member. 'I think this decision empowers #grassroots organizations like ours and our allies to continue to advocate and educate to clean up hundreds of abandoned uranium mines that threaten our #Diné communities every day.'

"RWPRCA President Edith Hood said the community has dealt with the impact of uranium mining since the late 1960s. Commercial mining began at the site under #KerrMcGee Corporation, which later became the #QuiviraMiningCompany. The operation extracted an estimated 1.3 million tons of uranium ore before closing in 1986. The Navajo Nation currently has more than 520 documented #AbandonedMines, with no disposal facilities for uranium waste within 350 miles of #TribalLands.

"'Many of us suffer chronic health problems and a degraded homeland as a result,' Hood said. 'We advocate for a regional approach to addressing remediation of nearly 100 abandoned uranium mines in the Eastern Navajo Agency. We are committed to making sure the removal of mine waste from our community does not threaten the health and safety of our Diné neighbors.'

"Previous attempts to address the waste proved unsuccessful. In 2011 and 2013, the EPA and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved a plan to place 1 million cubic yards of waste from NECRM on top of the existing tailings pile located half a mile from RWPRC village. Effectively, neither of those wastes were removed from the communities.

"The #RedRockLandfill currently handles municipal waste from McKinley and Cibola counties and Navajo Nation communities as far away as Tuba City. The planned #UraniumDisposalCell will occupy a separate area of the 640-acre site adjacent to the shuttered #Escalante power plant.

"The Northwest New Mexico Regional Solid Waste Authority (#NNMRSWA), which owns the landfill, must show that its operations can protect #GroundWater, air and soil, while safeguarding public health for decades to come. The New Mexico Environment Department will oversee long-term monitoring of the site.

"Chris Shuey, who has documented mining and #milling impacts in the #Churchrock area for 40 years as an environmental health specialist at Southwest Research and Information Center in Albuquerque, said relocating uranium waste is essential for tribal communities.

"'Removing mine wastes from Navajo communities to engineered, regional disposal sites is a #PublicHealth imperative,' Shuey said, noting that more than half of all Navajo chapters have at least one source of unhealthy uranium exposure. 'The federal government must continue looking for suitable sites for long-term disposal of mine wastes to protect current and future Navajo populations.'

"'This decision will remove over 1 million cubic yards of waste that has haunted the #RedWaterPondRoad and #PipelineRoad communities for too long,' EPA Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator Martha Guzman said in a statement.

"'This solution is a compromise that will get #RadioactiveWaste in this area off of the Navajo Nation as soon as possible,' Navajo Nation President #BuuNygren said in the EPA statement. 'It’s not everything the three affected communities would wish for but it’s action in the right direction now rather than in the future. Most importantly, this will protect our people from harmful exposure.'"

Source:
https://nativenewsonline.net/environment/epa-to-relocate-toxic-mine-waste-from-navajo-nation
#NoNukes #NoWar #NoMiningWithoutConsent #NoUraniumMining #UraniumMills #NukingTheNavajo #Genocide #WaterIsLife #NativeAmericanNews #HaulNo

Ahouli Mines in Aouli, Morocco

Large-scale operations in these mines ceased in the 1960s, leaving behind crumbling processing facilities and deserted living quarters.#minerals #abandonedmines #abandoned #mines #section-Atlas
Curious and Wondrous Travel Destinations - Atlas Obscura