INSPEC31765 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

second, lower, clean water diversion is being installed. On the North pile, the access road cuts diagonally up across the lower benches, so the final drainage configuration has not been achieved.. The upper sections of the permanent perimeter diversions have not been completed on either pile. We discussed whether a Phase I bond release is appropriate under these circumstances, including prior to a final pile construction certification. The associated topsoil storage and borrow areas have been revegetated, with sediment controlled as approved or under small area exemptions. These associated areas meet Phase I requirements. A new clean water diversion is being installed on the North pile because the existing diversion, located well above the pile, often gets blocked by material coming down the hillside. The new ditch will be located mostly where the refuse meets the natural hillside; i.e., for most of its length, the refuse itself will make up one wall of the V-ditch. I expressed some doubt that this will prevent runoff infiltration into the pile; Mr. Mathews believes that the slope is steep enough to cause runoff down the ditch rather than infiltration through the ditch. The sediment pond for this area, Pond 6, is subject to a Technical Revision to the permit to correct a problem identified by a previous OSM inspection this year. The main Roadside portals, underneath the mine office, are reported to have been sealed with concrete blocks, but have not yet been backfilled. We did not observe the seals since we were unprepared to go underground. The operator is reportedly waiting to do the backfilling work until decisions are made about the future of the office buildings. The two South Portals on BLM land have been closed by backfilling. There was evidence of minor settling {about 6" at the top); I told BLM that this was probably settling down across the face-up, NOT settlement down into the mine openings. This work was recently done, and little vegetation exists. The access road as far as the second portal is being left at BLM's request for BLM access. Minor headcutting was observed where a relocated stream channel crosses this road just past the second portal. Dan Mathews requested that the operator install additional riprap at that point, and reported that it had subsequently been done. The South Fan Shaft site had been backfilled and graded. Jim Stover reported the next day that a borrow area was necessary because when the shaft was dug, the material had been stowed underground in mine workings. The borrow area had been graded to AOC. Little vegetation existed on either site. The