DUCKTOWN, Tenn. — The people cleaning up the scars from copper mining here will let the public in next month to see the sweet water, lush grass and green trees replacing the Mars-like barrenness that held sway for years.

Frank Russell, the project manager with Glenn Springs Holdings, said tours will be held during four days before the July 4 holiday.

GSH is a division of Occidental Petroleum, which acquired the copper mining and acid production sites in a buyout of Tennessee Chemical Co.

Mr. Russell said public interest in the restoration project grows each year.

“We had only two trips the first year of the tours, but we had 14 trips last year in three days and are expanding the program,” he said.

During the two-hour tours, visitors will ride in 14-passenger vans to see where former mines, streams and processing areas have been reclaimed, such as a former tailings pond that now is a wildlife refuge.

Franklin Miller, a GSH spokesman, said the company began cleaning up the former London Mill Flotation Plant and mine in 2006, and so far has removed more than 220,000 cubic yards of contaminants.

“Also, several truckloads of household trash and crossties have been removed,” he said. A few truckloads of hazardous chemicals were sent offsite for disposal.

Elsewhere, workers are placing a 40 mil thick liner of high density polyethylene over 10 acres of a tailings/concentrate area. That liner will be capped and covered with clay and surface water will be channeled away so it doesn’t contact the contaminants.

Groundwater contaminated with mining byproducts is being trapped and channeled through 17,000 feet of 10-inch pipe to the North Potato Creek Treatment plant.

The plant uses a unique process that causes heavy metals to sink to the bottom of a former mining pit, leaving the treated water purer than the natural runoff.

The North Potato Creek plant can handle up to 400,000 gallons of water per minute, but generally runs about 3,000 gpm, company officials said.

The company also has removed waste from the McPherson Roast Yard where open roasting of copper ore began in the early 1800s. Fumes from those roasters was responsible for the acidic air that killed all the trees and vegetation in the area.

Mr. Russell said that by the end of 2008, many of the major efforts to reduce stream pollution will have been completed.

In fact, he said, wetlands built in several sections of McPherson Branch are no longer needed to purify the water. But he said they will continue to operate, although they are plagued with beavers and muskrats.

“The key to this is to keep the water clean,” Mr. Russell said.

He said much of the formerly polluted land now sports grasses, trees and wildlife ranging from deer to turkey to geese.

Plans call for part of the site to be developed as an environmental park, with hiking and biking trails and unique historical artifacts open for viewing.

Mr. Russell said GSH expects the restoration work to continue at least four to six years.