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Page two <br />Technical Revision to Return Coal Processing Waste to New Elk Mine - <br />Permit C-81-012 <br />be installed to provide a backup system should the pipes or pumps <br />malfunction or be taken out of service for maintenance. The existing belt <br />press system will be retained in the Prep Plant for additional backup in <br />the event that the system is out of service. <br />Areas to be backfilled will be operated in phases. The first phase <br />will include the area in the vicinity of the East Portal. Subsequent <br />phases of the operation will include the West Portal Area and the South <br />Mains Area (see attached map). Specifics of these subsequent phases will <br />be addressed at a later date following assessment of the performance of the <br />initial phase of disposal. The New Elk Mine is currently abandoned and <br />these proposed disposal operations will not effect underground mining <br />operations at the Golden Eagle Mine because that mine is in a different <br />coal seam. Because the New Elk Mine is abandoned, no construction of <br />underground retaining walls will be necessary for placement of the refuse <br />fines material. The operation is not anticipated to change the existing <br />condition of the mine and will have no effect on the surface area supported <br />by the mine or surface effects following the backfilling. <br />The source of hydraulic transport medium for the slurry will be the <br />makeup water pumped to the Prep Plant which will be obtained from the <br />existing mine pool in the underground workings. Probing the abandoned fan <br />shaft has indicated that the existing water level is at 372 feet below the <br />surface and that approximately 10 feet of water is available in that area <br />of the mine pool for return to the Prep Plant. Initial makeup water will <br />be the water already in the Prep Plant obtained from the Purgatoire River <br />from Basin's existing water rights. The method to be used to dewater the <br />refuse fines is to pump the water back to the Prep Plant from the abandoned <br />fan shaft location. No water is anticipated to be released to the surface <br />because the mine is approximately 370 feet below the surface and the <br />current pool of water in the mine is not expected to rise because the same <br />amount of water will be pumped out of the mine as is pumped underground <br />with the slurry. As a result, no effects are anticipated on the hydrologic <br />regime. <br />Monitoring of the system will be conducted through pump meters which <br />will total the quantity of water and solids pumped underground and the <br />amount of water pumped back out of the mine. A monitoring well will also <br />be placed at the fan shaft location of the mine to detect changes in <br />groundwater levels and progress of the filling activities. Since this <br />system is not anticipated to effect the hydrologic regime, no other <br />monitoring wells are currently proposed. <br />