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March 13, 2019 C-1980-007/West Elk Mine LDS <br /> <br />Number of Partial Inspection this Fiscal Year: 7 <br />Number of Complete Inspections this Fiscal Year: 3 <br /> Page 2 of 9 <br /> <br /> <br />Inspection Topic Summary <br />NOTE: Y=Inspected N=Not Inspected R=Comments Noted V=Violation Issued NA=Not Applicable <br />N - Air Resource Protection <br />R - Availability of Records <br />N - Backfill & Grading <br />N - Excess Spoil and Dev. Waste <br />N - Explosives <br />N - Fish & Wildlife <br />R - Hydrologic Balance <br />R - Gen. Compliance With Mine Plan <br />N - Other <br />R - Processing Waste <br /> <br />N - Roads <br />N - Reclamation Success <br />N - Revegetation <br />N - Subsidence <br />R - Slides and Other Damage <br />N - Support Facilities On-site <br />N - Signs and Markers <br />N - Support Facilities Not On-site <br />N - Special Categories Of Mining <br />N - Topsoil <br /> <br /> <br />COMMENTS <br /> <br />This was a complete inspection by Leigh Simmons of the Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety <br />(Division). Kathy Welt and Ed Ogrodny of Mountain Coal Company (MCC) accompanied the inspection. The <br />weather was overcast, with light snow/rain in the air and patches of ice and snow on the ground. The mine was <br />active. <br /> <br />AVAILABILITY OF RECORDS – Rule 5.02.4(1): <br /> Records were available in the mine office. Details are given at the end of this report. <br /> <br />HYDROLOGIC BALANCE - Rule 4.05 <br />Drainage Control 4.05.1, 4.05.2, 4.05.3; Siltation Structures 4.05.5, 4.05.6; Discharge Structures 4.05.7, 4.05.10; <br />Diversions 4.05.4; Effluent Limits 4.05.2; Ground Water Monitoring 4.05.13; Surface Water Monitoring 4.05.13; <br />Drainage – Acid and Toxic Materials 4.05.8; Impoundments 4.05.6, 4.05.9; Stream Buffer Zones 4.05.18: <br /> Much of the site was still covered in snow, although warming temperatures meant that snowmelt-water <br />was beginning to flow through the ditches and culverts, and raise the level of the sediment ponds. None of the <br />ponds were close to discharging. Woody shrubs in the embankment of the MB5E pond had been sprayed but not <br />cut, MCC staff plan to wait until the growing season before cutting the shrubs to ensure that they are dead. <br /> <br />GENERAL MINE PLAN COMPLIANCE: <br /> The longwall was mining in the E8 panel, between cross-cuts 22 and 21 on the E8 Headgate. <br />Development mining had progressed to around cross-cut 22 in the Sunset Mains South and to cross-cut 10 in the <br />Sunset 1 Headgate, within the Mount Gunnison Fuel Company lease area. <br />The Run of Mine coal stockpile was very large, although it had been kept within the stockpile footprint. <br /> <br />PROCESSING WASTE/COAL MINE WASTE PILES – Rule 4.10 and 4.11 <br />Drainage Control; Surface Stabilization; Placement: <br /> The wash plant was running and generating processing waste. Waste rock had been transported to the