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Waste From Gold King Mine Used To Run Through Treatment Facility, Dispute Over Origination

SILVERTON, Colo. (CBS4) - The town of Silverton is built on mining. At the Brown Bear Café, a photo of the Gold King Mine sits prominently as a testament to its proud past and unfortunate present.

The current owner of Gold King Mine, Todd Hennis, says he never should have let the Environmental Protection Agency into his mine.

"If we hadn't done that we wouldn't be here today," said Hennis.

The portal we visited is now a cavity after the EPA's dirt and timber plug gave way, sending millions of gallons of toxic water into the Animas River.

Steve Fearn is a former Gold King Mine owner, who says the EPA did not properly manage the leak.

"The best way they could have set a drill up above it and drilled into the tunnel, they have maps," Fearn said.

Hennis has maps too, which he insists shows the water gushing from his mine may have originated with a nearby mine, the Sunnyside.

The mine water used to flow through a treatment facility, but that was shut down several years ago. Bulkheads were installed to prevent the toxic water from coming out.

When asked if the blowout would have occurred if that facility was still in use, Hennis said "No. There would be no water backed up in the mountain, it would be treated."

Gold King Mine Tour
CBS4's Rick Sallinger with Gold King Mine owner Todd Hennis on Aug. 18, 2015 (credit: CBS)

Hennis claims there is much more water trapped inside.

"That will cause a flow, like this occurred in one hour, for months and months. we haven't seen anything," he said.

The owner of the Sunnyside Mine, Kinross Gold, issued this statement: "The representative of gold king mine has made numerous baseless allegations against Sunnyside … there is no connection between the workings of the two mines.

An EPA fact sheet provided to CBS4 by Hennis reads, "After the Sunnyside closed, water found natural fractures that allowed it to flow into the Gold King and other mines."

Tests could potentially show where the wastewater originated.

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