The Berkeley Pit in Butte, Montana, has been a source of environmental concern for decades, as its waters—highly acidic and teeming with toxins—have seeped into the surrounding area. But today ...

Some two decades, one doctorate, and 400 pages later, Leech has produced his answer. It’s called “The City that Ate Itself: Butte, Montana and Its Expanding Berkeley Pit.” ...

The Berkeley Pit, however, has a much richer concentration of rare earths in solution and a higher volume of water and is expected to produce 40 tons a year. Dr. Ziemkiewicz believes this process ...

The Berkeley Pit in Butte is seen in this panoramic image shot in September 2023. Its contaminated waters could become a dumping ground for Superfund wastes excavated from sites in the Silver Bow ...