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1vtINE ID # OR PF:OSPECTING I~: M-199(1-144 • <br />INSPECTION DALE: 5/9/00 INSPECTOR'S INITIALS <br />OBSERVATIONS <br />This inspection was conducted in response to a request by the operator, Western Mobile Southern, Inc./La Forge for <br />an on-site discussion of the ground water situation at the site. The mine was inactive at the time of the inspection. <br />The operator was represented during the inspection by Rusty Cochrane and Eric Rickentine. <br />In two previous inspections of the site by the Division, i.e. on 9/30 99 and 2/10/00, ground water was found to be <br />exposed at the sib'. In both cases, this was identified as a compliance problem since there is a condition in the permit <br />that mining would not be conducted below groundwater elevation and would not remove materials within at least <br />two feet above gn~undwater elevation. Following the Division's 9/30/99 inspection, it was indicated to the Division <br />that the areas of exposed groundwater had been adequately covered by the operator. Following the Division's <br />2/10/00 inspection, when ground water was once more found to be exposed, the operator initiated another effort to <br />cover the areas of exposure, but, when this effort ran into difficulty, an onsite meeting was requested with the <br />Division to discus the situation. <br />The inspection wits able to confirm that significant efforts had been made by the operator, since the Division's last <br />inspection, to deal with the problem. Much more material had been placed on the area of exposure just east of the <br />new high wall. Tfie surface of the fill, however, was very rough, and it was reported that the saturated conditions <br />existing in this arf~a allowed very little operational flexibility for the equipment being used for the operation. More <br />extensive grading had been completed, but without encountering similar problems, in covering the saturated area <br />south of the new iigh wall. There were a number of minor areas of water ponding on site at the time of the <br />inspection, but these were considered the result of the heavy rains that occurred the previous day. <br />The operator's rettresentatives indicated the landowner reporting fluctuations of the local water table as water was <br />introduced into the irrigation ditch to the north of the permit area. Since the Arkansas River is located less than two <br />miles to the south and at a lower elevation than the ditch, some seasonal variation in the level of the local ground <br />water related to Hater in the irrigation ditch might be expected. There are low areas both within the permit and <br />adjacent areas that indicate the water table is normally quite shallow so that it would not take much in the way of a <br />rise in that level h> expose ground water or at least indicate its proximity to the surface. Nevertheless, so long as the <br />permit application contains the conditions that it does, the operator will be required to comply with them, and the <br />level of the mining should be planned and maintained accordingly. <br />The operator's rettresentatives mentioned the use, by the previous permit holder, of drainage channels to lower the <br />level of the water table and to allow dry mining to be carried on but had been required, by the Division's inspector, <br />to cover those channels. They were advised by this inspector that draining groundwater by channels was essentially <br />the same as pumf~ing water from a well and that certain permits would be required to do so. <br />The operator's rettresentatives were then advised that any long term solution to this problem might be one of the <br />following: 1) simttly comply with the limitations on the depth of the mining required by the permit, 2) get the Office <br />of the State Engineer to determine that ground water was not being exposed, e.g. that the water involved was tailings <br />from the irrigation ditch, or 3) secure an agreement with the Office of the State Engineer allowing the exposure of <br />ground water and revise the permit accordingly. Since the lease with the landowner had just been renewed for 5 <br />years, the operator's representatives indicated that consideration might be given to devoting some water rights in the <br />company's posse<sion to the mine in order to resume and deepen the mining. <br />I & E Contat Address <br />NAME: Mr. Eric Rickentine <br />OPERATOR: Western Mobile Southeern, Inc./La FarRe <br />STREET: 1590 W. 12 th" Ave <br />CITY/STATE2IP: Denver CO 80204-1410 <br />cr ^ CE <br />^ BL <br />^ FS <br />^ HW <br />^ HMWMD (CH) <br />^ SE <br />