Company’s cleanup near Holden Village honored by mining association

Rio Tinto has received an industry award for the ongoing clean up of a historic Holden Mine near Lake Chelan.

The award was given by the American Exploration & Mining Association at a recent conference in Spokane.

Rio Tinto never operated the mine, but through a series of aquisitions, the multi-national mining company agreed to pay for and manage the $200 million cleanup of the defunct copper mine.

Holden Mine closed in the 1950s. The old mine site is in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, next to Holden Village, a Lutheran retreat center.

The award recognizes Rio Tinto’s work on “a remote and logistically challenging legacy site.” The mine remediation includes construction of a water treatment plant and ongoing environmental monitoring.

“Rio Tinto’s goal is to complete the remediation of past environmental problems at the old Holden Mine site safely, cost-effectively, and in a way that creates a sustainable socioeconomic future for Holden Village and other nearby communities,” said Dave Cline, the cleanup project manager, said in an association news release.