GENERAL32420

• Permit No: C1981013
• IBM Index Class Name: General Documents
• Doc Date: 6/28/1990
• Doc Name: Proposed Decision & Findings of Compliance for PR1
• Permit Index Doc Type: Findings
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

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The third well (LA 264) was designed to provide an assessment of the
water bearing capacity of the overburden in addition to that provided by
the core permeability tests. The open interval in this well began at a
depth of 62 ft. and ended at a depth of 276 ft. During drilling, water
inflow was encountered at about 72 ft. The inflow was estimated to be
about 15 gpm and no significant increase in discharge was observed over
the remainder of the hole. It is probable that a thin fracture zone at
the 72 ft. level accounts for most all of the water produced by this
well. This well had a permeability of 0.42 ft/d and a transmissivity of
90.7 ft2/d.
The location and geometry
related to the ocarrence
have not been reported in
streams. In fact, with t
encountered in the Second
the mine.
of the Purgatoire River does not appear to be
of fractures, jointing, or faulting. Faults
Golden Eagle workings beneath the surface
~e exception of the water bearing fracture zone
Right entries, no faulting has been reported in
The Allen and Maxwell seams are confined artesian aquifers in the general
area. The coal seams are confined by the shales and siltstones of the
overlying Raton Formation and the underlying Raton and
Vermejo Formations. Ground water flow in the coal is through coal cleats
and minor fractures. The coal seams are recharged by old mine workings
and oxidized coal/burn zones along the coal outcrops, and by
surface/alluvial systems at the coal subcrops in stream valleys. The
major recharge area for the coal seams adjacent to the mines are located
just west and southwest of the existing New Elk Mine workings. Both the
Allen and Maxwell coal seams lie more than 300 ft. below the
Purgatoire River. The coal seams discharge to the center of the
Raton Basin. No springs or seeps have been identified which discharge
from the coal seams. There are no water wells completed in the coal
seams.
The water quality data appears in Exhibit 6 of the renewal application.
Water from well LA 221A is believed to be representative of the
undisturbed waters in the coal seam. Water pumped from well LA 264 is
believed to be produced from a thin fracture zone in the overburden at a
depth of approximately 72 feet, as discussed previously. Though the
water sample from this well represents a zone high in the overburden, the
composition and total concentrations are very similar to the
corresponding parameters from well LA 221A completed in the coal. This
observation suggests a uniform water quality throughout the profile.
Both the coal water and the overburden water show a similar chemistry.
The water is a sodium-bicarbonate type water. The coal seam has higher
concentrations of carbonate, total iron, total manganese, total zinc, and
a slightly higher pH than found in the overburden water. Sulfate
concentrations in the coal seam were slightly lower than in the
overburden. Data on other trace metal concentrations were not provided.
Analysis of the water flowing from the fracture zone encountered in the
Second Right entries resembles that of the waters from wells LA 221 and
LA 264. It too is a sodium-bicarbonate type water with a TDS value of
802 very similar to the values for wells LA 221 and 264.
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