(Facility) Asarco Refinery

Plant in Pierce county in Washington, United States with commodities Arsenic, Copper, Nickel
Sections on this page
  1. Identification information
  2. Geographic coordinates
  3. Site location context
  4. Geographic areas
  5. Public Land Survey System information
  6. Commodities
  7. Nearby scientific data
  8. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  9. Land status
  10. Ownership information
  11. Links to other databases
  12. Bibliographic references
  13. General comments
  14. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10155657
MAS/MILS ID 0530539015
Record type Site
Current site name (Facility) Asarco Refinery
Alternate or previous names American Smelting and Refining Co.

Geographic coordinates

Point of reference Plant
Geographic coordinates: -122.50683, 47.2998 (WGS84)
Elevation 5
Location accuracy 10(meters)

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Pierce(county)

Washington(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Gig Harbor(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Tacoma(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Seattle(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Puget Sound(hydrologic unit)

Puget Sound(hydrologic accounting unit)

Puget Sound(hydrologic subregion)

Pacific Northwest(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States Washington Pierce

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
Willamette 021 N 002 E 23 NENE Washington

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Arsenic Critical Tertiary
Copper Primary
Nickel Critical Tertiary

Nearby scientific data

Plant (1) -122.50683, 47.2998

Economic information

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Operation type Processing Plant
Development status Plant
Commodity type Metallic
Significant No
Plant type Refiner

Land status

Ownership category Private

Ownership information

  • Type Owner-Operator
    Owner Asarco (American Smelting And Refining Co.)
    Interest 100
    Home office New York
    Year 1974

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Production

    WASHINGTON STATE DEPT. OF ECOLOGY. CONFIRMED AND SUSPECTED

  • Production

    CONTAMINATED SITES REPORT, OCT. 13, 1993.

  • Deposit

    DIRECTORY OF WASH. MANUFACTURERS, 1974.

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit CERCLA (SUPERFUND) SITE. SITE IS LISTED ON THE NATIONAL PRIORITIES LIST (NPL), MAY 10, 1993. ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS INCLUDE (1) ACID MINE DRAINAGE CONTAMINATED WITH HEAVY METALS, AND (2) MINE DUMPS AND MILL TAILINGS CONTAINING HEAVY METALS. ASARCO SMELTER, A SUBSITE OF THE REFINERY, IS ALSO ON THE STATE REPORT. BOTH SITES HAVE CONFIRMED AIR, SURFACE WATER, GROUNDWATER, SEDIMENT, AND SOIL CONTAMINATION: EPA PRIORITY POLLUTANTS-METALS AND CYANIDE; OTHER METALS; BASE/NEUTRAL/ ACID ORGANICS; HALOGENATED ORGANIC COMPOUNDS; PHENOLIC COMPOUNDS; NON-HALOGENATED SOLVENTS; POLYNUCLEAR AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS (PAH); CONVENTIONAL ORGANIC CONTAMINANTS; ASBESTOS. STATUS: REMEDIAL ACTION IN PROGRESS. NOTE: THE REFINERY HAS BEEN DISMANTLED. AS OF 1993, THE SITE IS BEING RECLAIMED.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 25-FEB-94 Ridenour, James U.S. Bureau of Mines

Beyond USGS

Supplemental information added by qvyshift.com. Not part of the original USGS MRDS record.

Operator history (post-MRDS)

MRDS records operators as of each record's last update (≤ 2019). Some of the operators listed here have since changed hands or dissolved:

Curated by qvyshift.com from publicly-reported M&A activity (SEC filings, press releases, USGS Mineral Yearbooks). Not authoritative — verify against primary sources before relying on it. The MSHA panel above is the current authoritative source for actively-permitted mines.