![Pit at the Homestake Barrick Gold Mine, which was named toxic polluter of the year by the New Mexico Environmental Law Center. Photo Credit: Wikipedia](/images/resized/images/news/2016/299_dec24/6_100_100.jpg)
N.M. Environmental Law Center hands out AWARD
SANTA FE — The N. M. Environmental Law Center announced Dec. 4 that Homestake Barrick Gold Mining Company, with a mine five miles north of Milan, N. M., is this year’s selection for Toxic Polluter of 2020.
The Homestake Mill site, owned by Barrick Gold, an international mining company, processed uranium that was mined from nearby mines for decades. In 1983, it was named a Superfund site, meaning that it is one of the most contaminated places in the country and a clean up is required under federal law. Yet 40 years later, more of the groundwater aquifers near the site are contaminated with uranium and selenium than when the supposed...