Real estate investment advice on a mining-related blog? 

Indeed.  The best advice is at this link, from which I copy the picture above.  Seems you can get great second property bargains in the old mining towns of the West that are now being clean up.  Kellogg, Idaho is the latest opportunity.

I can attest to the financial wisdom on buying near contaminated sites being cleaned up.  Many years ago I bought a house in Huntington Beach, California in an area surrounded by old oil rigs and oil-contaminated soil.  My up-scale friends sniffed up their noses at my folly in buying in a grungy place.

The company I was about to go to work for assured me the area was slated for cleanup.  They were right.  For a few years there were piles of soil being aerated and bioremediated.  Now there are million dollar homes, Lincoln Navigators, and trophy wives dragging little blond kids to expensive toy stores.  A far cry from the old Buicks and gray-haired ladies with walking sticks we used to dodge as the drove erratically down the road.  Obviously my house value quadrupled; there is only so much land within half a mile of the beach.

So, if you seek good second home investment opportunities follow the trail of contaminated mines, Superfund sites, and EPA action.  Good luck and good investing.