Planning A Labor Day Trip To Heritage Minerals Site? Don't Do It, Manchester Police Warn

MANCHESTER, NJ — Manchester Township police have repeatedly warned people to stay out of the former Heritage Minerals mining site and away from its lake, the site of multiple deaths.

The police department is determined to drive the point home, however, and conducted a special detail to enforce trespassing laws and make the point that those who go into the woods there will face criminal charges.

The detail was conducted Aug. 21, Capt. Vincent Manco said, in cooperation with the Ocean County Sheriff's Department.

"The detail resulted in numerous criminal and traffic summonses being issued to trespassers found on the parcel of land," Manco said.

The 7,000-acre Heritage Minerals property, which is privately owned, is a former strip-mining site. It's also know as ASARCO, the acronym for the mining company, and Crystal Lake is so named because the aquifer-fed lake's water is crystal clear.

Originally operated by ASARCO (American Smelting and Refining Company), Inc., the property was sold to and subsequently operated by Heritage Minerals until the cessation of mining operations in the early 1980s.

The property connects the eastern section of the township off Route 37 to the western section, off of Route 70. During its years of operation, the land was mined so deeply that numerous bodies of water often referred to as lakes formed. These lakes, which are actually groundwater aquifers, litter the landscape on the site, and they offer many dangers, Manco said.

Because the lakes were formed as a result of mining operations, they do not have stable bottoms or shore lines the way naturally occurring lakes do. The banks are very unpredictable and dangerously unstable.

"Those entering the water will quickly realize that after taking a few steps in the soft, unstable sand that the shoreline shelf quickly drops off to depths that exceed 60 feet. Some estimates have the largest lake on the property as being up to 300 feet deep," he said.

Making matters worse, a recent lack of rain has exposed a greater area of the shoreline shelf, putting those near the water perilously close to the steep drop-off. There have been several fatal drownings at the lakes, including one in early August. Read more: Heritage Minerals Lake In Manchester Claims Another Victim

Manco said the other problem is people driving near the lake's edge and others who try to walk on it or go swimming face a higher risk of danger in this exposed area because of its potential to collapse without warning.

"Under no circumstance should anyone walk or drive on this exposed shelf or approach or enter these waters," Manco said.

"The Manchester Township Police Department and the Ocean County Sheriff’s Department would like to remind the public that the Heritage Minerals or ASARCO site is PRIVATE PROPERTY," Manco said. "It is CLOSED for recreational and/or other use and it is a criminal offense to enter or remain on the property."

Trespassers are subject to substantial fines and penalties up to and including incarceration for being on the property.

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