Gold mine leads to thousands of dollars--in clean-up costs Zac Podmore/Salt Lake Tribune The U.S. Forest Service dammed the Marvin Tunnel gold mine entrance to prevent damage to Blanding's water supply. By: The Salt Lake Tribune Posted at 2:17 PM, May 05, 2021 and last updated 2021-05-05 16:44:27-04 BLANDING, Utah â Owning a gold mine doesn't always make a person rich; in fact, water draining out of it can potentially harm nearby drinking water and cost the thousands of dollars to remedy, according to a report from the Salt Lake Tribune. That's the lesson Charles Pipkin of Goshen, Utah learned when he reopened a 100 year-old gold mine shaft known as the Marvin Tunnel that his great-grandfather had mined in the early 1900's.