Laserfiche WebLink
Whirlwind Mine Groundwater Characterization Report <br /> 5. Packrat Spring (PR Spring) <br /> 6. Monitoring Well W-1 <br /> 7. Lumsden Canyon Seep <br /> DP Spring, PR Spring, and Monitoring Well W-1 are monitored for flow/level and field <br /> parameters on a quarterly basis and sampled for water quality annually. EFR has committed to <br /> monitoring mine water associated with the Rajah 49 Mine at the Thornton Portal; this monitoring <br /> site is referred to as Rajah Spring. Rajah Spring is monitored and sampled once annually. EFR <br /> will further address the hydrological aspects of mine water treatment and discharge, ore <br /> production stockpiling, and waste production on-site disposal as these activities come online. <br /> Monitoring of the Whirlwind Decline and the Packrat Mine has not been conducted because of <br /> limited access to these workings; and monitoring of Lumsden Canyon Spring (or Seep) was <br /> discontinued as there has been no mine discharge occurring under the Colorado Discharge <br /> Permit System (CDPS) permit. Monitoring reports have been submitted to DRMS and BLM <br /> quarterly and annually as required. <br /> 2.0 PHYSIOGRAPHIC SETTING <br /> The Whirlwind Mine and vicinity is located in the Colorado Plateau Geologic Province in western <br /> Mesa County, Colorado a few miles from the Utah state border. The region is sparsely <br /> populated with the closest city being Grand Junction, located 37 miles to the northeast and the <br /> community of Gateway, population 23 (Best Places, 2022), just three miles to the northeast on <br /> the Dolores River. Gateway and the Whirlwind Mine is best accessed by State Highway 141 that <br /> branches from U.S Highway 50 south of Grand Junction, Colorado. <br /> The Whirlwind Mine area is located on the east slope of a high desert mesa on the Colorado— <br /> Utah border. Beaver Mesa forms a relatively flat highland that gently slopes to the west into <br /> Utah. The highest elevation portion of the mesa is a north-trending broad ridge called Dolores <br /> Point that runs along and to the east of the Colorado—Utah border. Dolores Point and other <br /> portions of Beaver Mesa are the highland remnants of an extended period of erosion. These <br /> highlands are capped by resistant sandstone formations, the Dakota Sandstone and underlying <br /> Burro Canyon Formation, a characteristic forming ledges and small cliffs. <br /> Western Water& Land, Inc. 4 <br />