2014-12-05_HYDROLOGY - M2012032 - Laserfiche WebLink

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6. Water Sampling, Results, Impacts and Discussion Water samples were taken by a mine employee on October 24th at approximately 11 AM -1 PM. These samples included the discharge from the mine at the end of the HDPE pipes (2) from the portal, Sneffels Creek immediately above the discharge point, Sneffels Creek near the Camp Bird Mine and Canyon Creek at Box Canyon near Ouray. This location is immediately upstream of the junction of Canyon Creek with the Uncompahgre River. Unfortunately, no photos were taken of the water samples or the locations from which they were taken. Map 1 in Appendix B shows the locations of the samples. Map 2 shows the relationship of the mine workings to the raise bore location and Shaft #1. On October 25th, water samples were taken at the mine discharge only since all other waters were clear. At the time of the incident, no specific water coolers with designated water sample bottles were on hand at the mine. Greg Lewicki instructed the water samples to be taken and the mine employee found an existing cooler on site with bottles. These bottles were used for the samples. Upon evaluating the results, it is seen that pH was very erratic, according to the Table 2 below. Table 2 Sample Location Date of Sample pH Comments Mine Portal Discharge 10/24/14 8.7 Normal Mine Portal Discharge 10/25/14 12.2 Impossible Sneffels Creek above Mine 10/24/14 12.3 Impossible Sneffels Creek above Mine 10/25/14 8.6 Normal Sneffels Creek at Camp Bird 10/24/14 8.2 Normal Sneffels Creek at Camp Bird 10/25/14 8 Normal Canyon Creek at Box Canyon 10/24/14 12.8 Impossible As is seen from the Table 2 above, the pH of Sneffels Creek above the mine and at Camp Bird and Canyon Creek at Box Canyon have 3 samples that are extremely high in pH. For Sneffels Creek above the mine, the pH on the 24th was reported as 12.3 and dropped to 8.6 the following day. The pH of 8.6 is more normal based on the samples that have been taken over the past 3 years. The pH of 12.3 is not possible, which means that another issue resulted in this anomaly. This is also true of the other sample locations except for Sneffels Creek at Camp Bird. Greg Lewicki spoke with Scott Habermehl of ACZ Labs, which is the company that consistently does the water analysis for the mine. He related that sodium hydroxide is used for sampling preservative for certain ions. It was also determined that the bottles used over the two day sampling period were not bottles from ACZ Labs. The two mine water discharge samples have full suite analyses and one had high pH and the other did not, so it was Page 11 of 17