The Biden administration announced Wednesday the addition of a historic Northern California mine to the Superfund National Priorities List — a federal index that ranks hazardous waste site risk and helps in prioritizing cleanup operations. The Afterthought Mine, located in Shasta County about 200 miles north of Sacramento, produced gold, silver, copper, lead and zinc from 1862 to 1952, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). … Both the mine and the Afterthought Smelter, about a mile downstream, were “in direct contact with surface water” in the adjacent Little Cow Creek, according to the EPA’s Hazard Ranking System documentation record. … Little Cow Creek, which is frequented by fishing enthusiasts, also hosts a variety of wetland wildlife and has been designated as a critical habitat for steelhead trout, per the document. Other fish found in the waterway include largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, Chinook salmon, brown trout, brook trout and rainbow trout, according to the EPA.