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`~ <br />Letter to Andre' Douchane, BMRI <br />Comments regarding June 25, 1992 Order <br />page 2 , <br />Primary to formulating our "belief" (opinion) will be thorough, acc rate and <br />correlated monitoring of the cyanide levels within the tailings pon . <br />Yesterday, Gary Dodson contacted Dr. Harry Posey with several inqui,ies <br />regarding the necessity of continuing daily monitoring in the processing plant <br />and tailings pond once the Sampling and Analytical Protocol (TR-006 is <br />approved. In my opinion, the two topics are relatively unrelated. !Once the <br />Protocol is adopted it will provide the methodology for tonducting 11 <br />required water quality sampling and monitoring at the site. Decisi ns ' <br />concerning the frequency of conducting monitoring relate to the req irements <br />within your plan, including orders imposed by the Board, and the to hnical <br />requirements for demonstrating statistical validity. Each process ontrol <br />situation should be considered on its specific individual scientifi and <br />environmental needs. <br />In response to Gary's inquiry, I don't believe daily monitoring of he <br />processing stream is necessary any longer. However, in light of th imposed <br />requirements of the June 25, 1992 Board Order, I think continued co prehensive <br />monitoring of the pond is critical. Further, Gary informed Harry that <br />Degussa's personnel would leave the San Luis site on Thursday, July 2, 1992, <br />which would curtail their daily monitoring of the tailings pond WAD cyanide <br />levels. Gary reported that Degussa's WAD cyanide analysis determine the <br />level to have reached approximately 40 ppm as of yesterday, but the MRI's on <br />site testing reported approximately 55 ppm. Apparently, BMRI's meth d <br />consistently reports a higher level by approximately this relationship. <br />I'm a realist. Obviously, the other parties to these proceedings mad/ not be. <br />I understand that the various testing techniques have various bias' bnd <br />interferences. However, the Division must formulate its "belief" on July 20th <br />based on the evidence in hand. If the monitoring results are not ve ifiable, <br />BMRI's commitment to achieving the lowest reasonably achievable cyanide levels <br />could be suspect and might be challenged. <br />BMRI presented monitoring results to the Board on June 24, 1992, whi h <br />depicted the results of Core Lab's and Degussa's analyses. I recomm nd that <br />BMRI continue to accumulate this data, for consistency. If you prop se to <br />discontinue the Degussa method and implement an alternative, I recom end that <br />you apply both techniques and the Core lab methodology simultaneousl to split <br />samples for three to five days. If the techniques correlate accepta ly, i.e. <br />with a consistent correction factor, BMRI could justify the use of t e <br />alternative methodology. Plots of the continuing WAD Cyanide data c uld then <br />be prepared using the correction to relate Degussa to BMRI's on site data <br />string. The Core lab methodology should include the "APHA/AWWA Stan and <br />Methods, 17th edition, method 4500-C" analysis specified in paragrap (1) of <br />the Board Order, in accordance with Dr. Adrain Smith's recommendatio The <br />Core Lab data could then be used to tie the daily Degussa/BMRI data o the <br />protocol standard from Core Labs. <br />