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2015 Annual Hydrology Report Energy Fuels Coal, Inc. - Southfield Mine
<br />Water quality data for monitoring wells MW -16, MW -23, MW -65 and MW -NW are included in
<br />Appendix A, on Tables 4, 5, 6, and 7, respectively. These tables provide all available analytical
<br />results obtained during 2015, and the minimum, maximum and average values calculated using all
<br />available historic monitoring data.
<br />Data collected during 2015 indicate that MW -16 held water for the first time since going dry in
<br />2006, and a sample was taken in June 2015. The region received unusually high precipitation during
<br />April through June 2015, which evidently temporarily recharged the zone monitored by the well.
<br />Samples were also obtained in the second quarter from MW -23 and MW -65, while MW -NW was
<br />found dry.
<br />Wells MW -16, MW -23 and MW -65 were developed by Dorchester Coal Co. and have since been
<br />monitored regularly. Well MW -NW was approved as a monitoring well in 2003; it was formerly a
<br />dewatering well structure developed into Southfield mine workings in the Red Arrow Coal seam.
<br />Well MW -16 water level data (Figure 1) indicate significant cyclic/seasonal fluctuations prior to
<br />2001. When mining operations ceased in 2000, development of the mine had completely
<br />surrounded the well location, possibly depleting the localized water table. The well was essentially
<br />dry beginning in December 2001 until June 2004. Over time the well has silted -up to
<br />approximately 110 feet below ground surface leaving 4 feet of perforated casing above the current
<br />depth. Water levels during 2004 through 2005 were between 97 and 106 feet but the well has been
<br />dry from 2006 until the 2015 reporting period.
<br />Well MW -23 water level data (Figure 2) demonstrate steadily declining water levels since July of
<br />1984. A slight increase in water level was measured from 2010 through 2011, then continued
<br />declining levels through the period of this report.
<br />Well MW -65 water level data (Figure 3) exhibit generally stable values beginning in 1987. These
<br />values display minor fluctuations of approximately 5 feet, from an average level of 280 feet, from
<br />1987 through 2015.
<br />Well MW -NW water level data (Figure 4) indicate a dry well since monitoring was initiated in
<br />early 2003. Figure 4 illustrates the dry well condition with a "water level" line synonymous with
<br />the total original well depth to the floor of the mine opening, approximately 375 feet. The well
<br />depth that can be monitored changed in 2012 due to a failure in the last 20 feet of steel casing (see
<br />following Section 3.2). Figure 4 is modified accordingly to show the current measurable depth of
<br />the well of 353 feet, reported as dry.
<br />An analysis of the impacts of mining on groundwater quality based on plotting selected parameters
<br />against time from all available quality data collected at current groundwater monitoring points was
<br />provided in TR -43, as discussed below.
<br />For the four groundwater wells, MW -16, MW -23, MW -65, and MW -NW, the approved list of
<br />chemical parameters for analysis included pH (lab), Conductivity at 25C, Temperature (field),
<br />Solids, total dissolved (TDS), Bicarbonate as CaCO3, Calcium, dissolved, Chloride, Magnesium,
<br />dissolved, Nitrogen -ammonia, Nitrogen nitrate -nitrite, Phosphorus, ortho, Sodium, dissolved,
<br />Sulfate, Iron, dissolved, and Manganese, dissolved.
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