BROOKSVILLE – A federal health agency has released a final assessment of the former Callahan mine site that confirms initial findings released earlier this year that the site poses a limited health threat.

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, an arm of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, evaluated whether exposure to contamination at the site could cause harm to people living near or visiting the site. The ATSDR assessment is required for all sites listed on the EPA’s National Priorities (Superfund) List. The mine site was added to the Superfund list last fall.

“We didn’t change the conclusions or recommendations significantly in the final assessment,” said Jill Dyken, a health assessor with the agency. “We did try to include comments and questions from the public.”

Most of those comments focused on residents’ concerns about their contact with the mine site and questions on how those experiences might have affected their health. The agency tried to evaluate those experiences in relation to the information available about the mine site, Dyken said Monday.

“We don’t feel those experiences would lead to adverse effects,” she said.

The report concluded that the site contains physical hazards and elevated levels of heavy metals. The report indicates that because of the infrequent use of the site, the health threat is not as serious as it might be. The chief concern in the report focuses on the danger of eating fish and shellfish collected from the waters near the mine site.

The assessment noted that there is not sufficient information available to determine fully whether eating fish or shellfish collected from the area could be harmful. Although several contaminants leaching from the former open pit mine site are known to accumulate in fish and shellfish, the agency concluded that “people who occasionally eat mussels from Goose Cove are not likely to experience adverse effects.”

The report recommended, however, that law enforcement officials increase efforts to enforce the shellfish ban now in effect for the area and that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency conduct additional samplings to determine concentrations of heavy metals in fish and shellfish in the waters around the mine site.

The report also notes that physical hazards could cause injury to people visiting the site, but it also concluded that “because of the low frequency and duration of likely exposure, people are not likely to be harmed by the heavy metals or other contaminants from the site.”

Additional data collected by the Environmental Protection Agency might change that conclusion, the report said. The EPA plans to conduct a remedial investigation of the site to assess the level and extent of contamination from the site as part of the Superfund process.

Although Monday’s report is considered a final assessment, Dyken said ATSDR would continue to be involved in the assessment of the mine site.

“We’ll continue to work with the EPA as they evaluate the site,” she said.

If the EPA develops new information, ATSDR will prepare a follow-up report and may schedule additional meetings with the public to review that information. Funding for the EPA’s remedial investigation could be available to begin that investigation sometime next year, officials told residents earlier this year.

Copies of the public health assessment will be available at the Brooksville Public Service Building.