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Whirlwind Mine Groundwater Characterization Report <br /> Several zones in the borehole were tested using a packer and pump system. All of these zones <br /> contained intervals of sandstone and mudstone. Minor groundwater was initially encountered in <br /> the borehole at a depth of about 90 ft. within the Burro Canyon Formation and upper Brushy <br /> Basin Member. An open-hole test of the interval 93 to 140 ft. yielded 5 gallons per hour(gph). <br /> Packer isolation testing also yielded groundwater at the tested intervals of 250 to 280 ft. (Test <br /> BM00-1), 355 to 400 ft. (Test BM001-2), and 395 to 440 ft. (Test BM001-3) The final and <br /> deepest packer isolation test(Test BM001-4)was conducted in the Salt Wash Member where <br /> borehole fluid was pumped for 40 minutes at which time discharge from the interval ceased. A <br /> 2-hour wait period was followed by another pumping period; however, the test interval produced <br /> no water. Another 3-hour wait (recharge) period was followed by another pumping period, but <br /> the test interval did not yield water. Umetco concluded that the Salt Wash test interval was of <br /> too low permeability to yield groundwater to the borehole. As pointed out in Appendix D of both <br /> the DRMS mine permit and BLM plan of operation, borehole BM00-1 was drilled to within about <br /> 200 ft of the Whirlwind Decline and mine workings that had been flooded for almost 20 years, <br /> and no groundwater was indicated in the Salt Wash interval. Table 2 summarizes the packer <br /> interval testing at Borehole BM00-1. <br /> The lithologic log presented by Umetco showed that all of the test intervals in the Brushy Basin <br /> in Borehole BM00-1 included one or more sandstone units. Borehole BM00-1 was collared at an <br /> elevation of approximately 7,438.4 ft AMSL as provided by EFR. Based on this elevation, the <br /> elevations of groundwater encountered in the Burro Canyon and upper Brushy Basin are <br /> practically the same, possibly indicating that these strata form one continuous aquifer. <br /> The laboratory analytical reports for data discussed in this report are available in both the <br /> DRMS mine permit and BLM POO as well as in subsequent submitted annual monitoring <br /> reports. These data are discussed in Section 5.0 (Water Chemistry) of this report. <br /> Information related to the BM00-1 Borehole included a handwritten note by Mr. Bruce Fowler of <br /> the U.S. BLM Grand Junction Field Office on a letter transmitted from Mr. Tony Bates, Umetco <br /> Mines Reclamation Manager on January 18, 2001. Fowler wrote: <br /> "One of the water zones tested in the Brushy Basin has elevated radium. Tony says the <br /> Brushy Basin is ore-bearing, and the gamma log for this well shows a kick across from <br /> Western Water& Land, Inc. 18 <br />