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On Tuesday, a valve was installed on the accumulator pipe to prevent <br />further or future discharge. I am meeting with our Mine Manager, Chief <br />Engineer, Surface Foreman, Electrical Foreman, and Underground Maintenance <br />Foreman this morning to go look at the problem area, discuss what occurred <br />and why, and define specific steps and schedule to both address the <br />immediate problem and assure that it does not occur again at this or any <br />other location. <br />18-Right Intake Shaft Access Road <br />I talked with both our Surface Foreman and the Contractor, who has done <br />most of the work on the 18-Right Shaft Project, yesterday to get some <br />perspective on the observed problem of road base and other materials that <br />appeared to be covering or mixed with topsoil along the road. The <br />Contractor indicated the following, which appear to be consistent with what <br />was observed in the field: <br />Topsoil was salvaged from the entire road corridor and drill pad prior to <br />further disturbance <br />Salvaged soil along the road corridor was windrowed along the downslope <br />side of the road consistent with designs <br />The road was completed in early winter <br />The source of the thin veneer of road-base material observed on the <br />windrowed topsoil is minor amounts of road-base that got mixed in with snow <br />during road plowing operations this last winter and were left behind when <br />the snow melted this spring <br />In those areas where it appeared that rocky road cut material was mixed <br />with topsoil -Any limited amounts of suitable topsoil in the rocky areas <br />were salvaged prior to road construction. Because the rocky areas were <br />typically the steeper areas, salvaged topsoil from these areas was placed <br />in the main (pad area) topsoil pile. In most cases, surficial soils in the <br />rocky areas were limited, poorly developed, and contained a significant <br />percentage of rocky fragments, so it was impractical to separate the soil, <br />and both the poor soil and cut materials were graded to the side of the <br />road for future use in filling and reclaiming the cut areas (rocky <br />materials were not used in road construction due to concerns about adequate <br />compaction) <br />We obtained a sample of the road-base material yesterday and are having ACZ <br />Labs analyze the sample for typical soil suitability criteria. Given that <br />the road-base material is a sandy-gravel from one of the local alluvial <br />source gravel pits, I reasonably anticipate that it will meet applicable <br />soil suitability criteria, with the possible exception of rocky fragments. <br />I think that, based on what we observed, there is general concurrence that <br />windrowing may not be the best practice for soil storage, and we will <br />modify our future designs accordingly, however, I don't anticipate that the <br />minor amounts of road-base observed on the windrowed topsoil will adversely <br />affect soil suitability for reclamation purposes. I suggest that <br />collection and placement of the combined materials in the existing and/or <br />additional soil stockpile(s) will be effective in preventing any further <br />mixing, and anticipate proceeding with this approach with your concurrence. <br />We respectfully ask that you consider this additional information in your <br />evaluation of the results of the Mine inspection. Please feel free to call <br />me with any questions or to further discuss any related issues. As an <br />additional item; we had the Shaft Contractor remove the gasoline can from <br />the temporary pump installation at the 18-Right Intake Shaft, and they <br />completed a lined containment basin this morning £or the temporary <br />skid-mounted lubricant center at the same location. <br />Best regards, <br />2 <br />