Laserfiche WebLink
~, Introduction <br />Blasland, Bouck & Lee, Inc. (BBL) was retained by Holcim, Inc. to provide technical support for <br />Mine Permit Technical Revision TR-06 (TR-06) to State of Colorado Mining Permit No. M-77- <br />344 for the Holcim Portland plant and quarry. The Holcim Portland plant and quarry is located in <br />Fremont County, Colorado (Figure I). The total area of the Holcim property is approximately <br />3,400 acres, In partial fulfillment of the Colorado Division of Minerals and Geology's <br />requirements for TR-06, a Groundwater Monitoring Plan (GMP) was developed for the <br />approximately 1,330 acres included within the boundaries of the mining permit (Site) (Figure 2) <br />(BBL, 2002). The main purpose of this GMP is to meet the requirements of the Colorado Mined <br />Land Reclamation Board's (NLRB) Construction Materials Rules and Regulations Rule 3.1.7 for <br />the protection of existing and reasonably potential future uses of the unclassified groundwater <br />located beneath the quarry (NLRB, 2001). These requirements have been triggered by the <br />disposal of cement kiln dust (CKD) into previously mined sections of the Site, and the potential <br />for leachate from CKD to adversely impact ambient groundwater quality for existing and <br />reasonably potential future uses. <br />In support of the GMP, two monitoring wells were installed in July 2003, and all new and <br />existing monitoring wells were sampled in August, 2003. This document describes the <br />procedures followed during installation of the two new wells and collection of groundwater <br />samples, and presents the results of the groundwater analysis. The remainder of this Introduction <br />section presents the history of the site that is relevant to groundwater quality. Section 2 describes <br />the field activities for the installation of two new monitoring wells, measurement of groundwater <br />levels, and sampling of new and existing monitoring wells. Section 3 presents results for the <br />groundwater analyses and groundwater elevation measurements. Section 4 presents a description <br />of future work. Cited references are provided in Section 5. <br />1.1 Site History <br />The Portland plant, located on the southern side of the Arkansas River, until recently consisted of <br />three (3) long, wet kilns with a combined cement production of approximately 937,000 tons per <br />year (tpy). The Plant currently uses a single dry kiln process for production of cement with a <br />capacity of 2,094,000 tpy. The facility utilizes afive-stage preheater/precalciner tower to prepare <br />material for the kiln. The tower includes heat-exchanging cyclones (i.e., preheater) in which the <br />dry feed is preheated and partially calcined by the kiln's hot exit gasses prior to entering the <br />actual kiln. A secondary firing device (i.e., precalciner) in the lower stage of the preheater further <br />calcinates the materials. CICD, a waste material from cement production, is dust that is generated <br />in the cement kiln and associated equipment. Using the prior wet kiln process, approximately <br />100,000 tpy of cement kiln dust (CKD) was generated during the production of cement at the <br />Portland plant (Resource Geoscience, Inc. (RGI), 1999)). The current CKD production rate <br />ranges from 28,000 tpy to 72,000 tpy. The production of CKD strongly depends upon the <br />chemistry of raw materials, type of process and the design of gas velocities in the kiln. Other <br />factors such as kiln performance and dust collection systems play vital roles. To reduce dust <br />emissions, a pug mill is used to add water to CICD prior to transporting it to the disposal area. <br />Historically, sludge from nearby Fremont Sanitation District wastewater treatment plant had been <br />added to the CICD disposal area as a daily cover. The sludge also served as a means of CKD dust <br />control. With the addition of the pug mill, use of the sludge for CKD dust control was no longer <br />required and has not been utilized since the startup of the new plant in 2001. <br />1:\Holcim\GW Monitoring ReportV4332186.doc l-1 <br />