I remember clearly when the Lorado tailings resembled the surface of Mars. As a teenager, we’d walk across tailings field, marveling the rust-red dust, the absence of a single living thing. Nearby Nero Lake was completely clear, no fish, no plants, no living trees around its shore. The tailings field lived on after the mill that produced was demolished, the last point on the map of what had been the Lorado town and mill. Now, even the tailings field is covered, the lake restored. The point on the map has been completely erased, but for the single concrete pad where the mill once stood.

A remarkable achievement, returning the tailings field from a uranium mine back to nature. Hopefully, they have the same success at the Gunnar Mines tailing field to the south.