EPCAMR - IRON OXIDE RESOURCE RECOVERY PROJECT

From Jeff Frank EPCAMR/OSM Intern:

I am the EPCAMR/OSM Intern here for a twelve week term in the late spring and summer of 2004. Though I have contributed in many ways to EPCAMR, primarily with GIS, I was hired primarily to work, under guidance from the EPCAMR staff, with those watershed groups that have streams and creeks affected by AMD within EPCAMR’s 16-county coverage area. The ultimate goal is to take samples of the matter at the bottom of these affected streams and to have them tested for their iron oxide content for potential resource extraction by Hedin Environmental, Pittsburgh, PA. When processed, there are a number of uses for the resultant product, such as paints and coatings, cement-based products, plastics, paper, and mulch.

After much brainstorming by the staff here at EPCAMR, we decided to go with a design using the following materials:

•15’ extendable pole (used to reach the matter at the bottom of the streams)
•Cooler (used to store sludge and water samples)
•Ice packs, 3 pk. (used to keep cooler cold while in field)
•Tupperware containers (used to collect water extracted from sludge)
•Screen (used to place over Tupperware container when extracting sludge from water)
•Aluminum forms holder (used to store multiple copies of the Iron Oxide Resource Recovery Project data form)
•3 20-ct. quart-size storage bags (into which was put the strained sludge samples)
•Family-size Chicken Soup can (used for attaching to the end of the 15’ pole and collecting the AMD matter from the bottom of the affected streams)
•Six ¼” x 2.5” roundhead slotted screws (used to attach the soup can to the pole)
•Solder (used to help secure soup can to the pole)
•10-pk. floppy diskettes (used to store images taken of sites with digital camera)
•8-pk. AA batteries (used for digital camera)
•Pencils (used for filling out the data forms in the field)