Mineral-deposit geology, geochemical processes, and biogeochemical processes are fundamental controls on the
environmental conditions that exist naturally in mineralized areas prior to mining, and that result from mining and mineral
processing. Input from economic geologists and geochemists is therefore crucial to effectively predict, assess, mitigate,
and remediate the environmental effects of mineral-resource development. Recent open pit gold mining at Summitville,
Colorado, has received intense public scrutiny for a variety of environmental problems, most important of which has been
extreme acid drainage. Now a Superfund environmental cleanup site, Summitville exemplifies how economic geology and
geochemistry principles (1) could have been better utilized to first predict and minimize the environmental problems, and
(2) can now be used to optimize the environmental cleanup.