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Whirlwind Mine Groundwater Characterization Report <br /> No new surface mapping, underground hydrogeologic mapping, or drilling has been undertaken <br /> by WWL to support this report since 2008, when the Whirlwind Decline was last dewatered. <br /> 1.1 Background <br /> In 2007, EFR began the mine permitting process for the Whirlwind Mine under regulations <br /> administered by DRMS and the BLM. In both agencies plans, EFR defines the Whirlwind Mine <br /> as the combined operation of two existing inactive mines, the Urantah Decline, and the Packrat <br /> Mine. The Packrat Mine was previously operated in from the 1950s up to 1990, the last operator <br /> being Umetco Minerals Corporation (Umetco). Pioneer Uravan began construction of the <br /> Urantah Decline in 1979 and ceased operations in 1981, shortly after accessing the ore body. <br /> Umetco acquired the decline and associated property from Pioneer Uravan in 1984 and later let <br /> the claims lapse in 1994, at which point Cotter Corporation restaked the property, naming it the <br /> Liberty group and Liberty Mine. Neither Umetco nor Cotter produced any ore from the mine <br /> workings. The mines were later reclaimed. New claims by Little Maverick Mining Company were <br /> staked in 2005 covering the Packrat, the Urantah Decline and other mines, collectively referred <br /> to as the Whirlwind Group. EFR now leases the Whirlwind Group claims from Little Maverick. <br /> The Urantah name is no longer used. In this report, the decline is referred to as the Whirlwind <br /> Decline, and the term Whirlwind Mine will apply to both the Packrat Mine and Whirlwind Decline <br /> workings. The Whirlwind Decline is collared in the Brushy Basin and descends approximately <br /> 3,200 feet (ft) at a minus 6% grade (Peters, 2011). <br /> The Whirlwind Decline is located at 30100 5/10 Road, Gateway Colorado. The EFR controlled <br /> claim block encompasses approximately 4,890 acres with a total of 206 unpatented claims in <br /> the Beaver Mesa Mining District of the Uravan Mineral Belt. The claims extend into Grand <br /> County, Utah. The claims (see Figure 2) lie in sections 35 and 36, T51 N, R20W, NMPM and <br /> sections 1, 2, 11, and 12, T50N, R20W, NMPM, Mesa County, Colorado and in sections 8, 9, <br /> 17, 20, and 21, T25S, R26E, SLPM, Grand County, Utah. <br /> DRMS provided comments to the EFR permit submittals in a Preliminary Adequacy Review <br /> (PAR) and an Additional Adequacy Review(AAR). A number of DRMS comments and requests <br /> concerned site hydrology, specifically, the potential impacts of the mining operations to water <br /> resources in the vicinity of the mine, as follows: <br /> Western Water S Land, Inc. 2 <br />