Sierra Club official questions whether exploratory drilling could have negative consequences for water supply

A Texas mining company is doing exploratory drilling in the tops of the Oquirrh Mountains above Middle Canyon.

Grand Central Silver Mines, a Carrollton, Texas-based mineral resource company has contracted with Utah-based drilling company Boart Longyear to set up a drilling rig near the Oquirrh Overlook on land owned by Grand Central Silver Mines, according to Boart Longyear officials. The rig has been operational for more than a week.Tooele-based construction company Christensen and Griffith also had a couple of trucks at the site last week, but company officials declined to comment on their involvement in the drilling project.

Grand Central Silver Mines owns or controls mineral properties in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho and Utah. The corporation is engaged in the acquisition and exploration of mineral properties believed to contain gold, silver, copper, zinc, and other metals.

In 2004, the company discovered gold approximately 20 miles southwest of Salt Lake City on its Southwest Bingham Canyon Property adjacent to the Bingham Canyon Copper Mine operated by Kennecott Utah Copper — the same general area where the current drilling site is located.

Grand Central Mines’ officials could not be reached for comment on the project.

The Oquirrh Mountains remain a popular area for exploratory drilling. Kennecott has been scouring both sides of the Oquirrhs for mine locations for the last few years.

However, drilling in the tops of the Oquirrhs poses environmental problems, according to Mark Clemens, manager of the Utah Chapter of the Sierra Club.

“It’s hard to imagine that it wouldn’t have consequences for the water supply,” said Clemens. “Under the 1872 mining law, there’s still essentially a presumption that mining is the highest and best use of public lands. Clearly with the water problems we’ve had, such as the poisoning of the ground water by Kennecott in the 1960s, we have to remember that there are public dangers in this practice.”

But Utah Geological Survey Ground Water and Paleontology Program director Mike Lowe disagrees.

“This probably isn’t a risk to the watershed,” said Lowe. “They’re probably using some clay compounds to thicken the drilling fluid they’re using so it will hold their drilling hole open, but that fluid is designed to keep the fluid from leaving the drilling formation. Drilling itself isn’t a very big risk to the water supply.”

Director of Tooele County Engineering Vern Loveless said he was unaware of Grand Central Silver Mines’ activities although he’s seen the drilling site.

“We’re not particularly concerned about it,” said Loveless. “I don’t think there’s a likelihood that it would damage the water supply at all. They’re at the very top of the ridgeline so it’s not like there’s a lot of water that would run through the sediment. I’m not even sure if there’s a lot of water where they’re at. I don’t see it being a problem.”

Loveless said Grand Central Silver Mines doesn’t need a permit for mining from the county.

Jim Springer, public information officer with the Utah Division of Oil, Gas, and Mining, confirmed that Grand Central Silver Mines does have a permit to drill exploratory wells.

The drilling site is located at 9,000 feet above sea level, and the nearest water table is located at 4,200 feet above sea level, according to Springer. That means drilling shouldn’t go as deep as the water table, Springer said.

ntripp@tooeletranscript.com