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• INTRODUCTION <br />In May of 2002, CT&E, Geologic Services, Gillette, Wyoming, was engaged by Energy Fuels <br />Corporation (EFC) to coordinate and supervise the permanent sealing of numerous water <br />monitoring welts or abandoned drill holes at the closed Kerr Mine, east of Walden, Jackson <br />County, Colorado. These wells/holes (wells) were drilled during the 1970's and 1980's. The <br />wells were of varying depth and completion technique. The abandonment of these wells was <br />accomplished during the months of September and October 2002. <br />The work was initiated by Glenn Miller of CT&E and was completed by Brant Dennis, a <br />contract consultant to CTBcE. The work involved several phases. The first was the <br />identification and mazking of wells, then the geophysical logging of the deeper wells to verify <br />coal depth and thickness, perforation of the casing in deeper wells and then the abandonment <br />of both deep and alluvial wells. The geophysical logging and perforation work was done by <br />Goodwell, Upton, Wyoming. The equipment and personnel used in the abandonment process <br />were supplied by Western American Drilling, Craig, Colorado. The equipment included a <br />Failing CFD-IB drill rig, water truck, support truck and backhoe. Water for the project was <br />obtained from the Canadian River, east of the project site. Supplies for this project were <br />obtained from Timberline Builder's Supply, Walden, Colorado, and from Casper Well <br />Products, Casper, Wyoming. <br />The permanent abandonment of the Ken wells was completed per the requirements of the <br />Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Colorado Department of Minerals and Geology <br />• (DMG). The following text discusses the work performed for this project. <br />PRE-ABANDONMENT ACTIVITIES <br />Based on data from BLM, Energy Fuels and the DMG, the wells to be reclaimed were divided <br />into two categories by Jerry Nettleton of Montgomery Watson Harza (MWH), Steamboat <br />Springs, CO. These categories were "bedrock (deep)" and "alluvial (shallow)". Using this <br />list and maps developed by MWH and from the EFC files; the wells were located and <br />identified in the field for the reclamation operations. <br />If there was a question on the actual depth of a bedrock well (those greater than 50'), the well <br />was geophysically logged. After determining the depth of the coal and thickness, the data was <br />noted and the well was perforated. The well was perforated by placing a small explosive shot <br />at 20.foot intervals in the well (Figures 1 and 2). These shots created a small hole in the <br />plastic casing, which would allow the placement of the cement both inside of the casing and <br />in the annulus. These perforations along with the actual slots in the well casing allowed for <br />complete sealing of the well from below the coal to ground surface. <br />If after logging the bedrock well, it was determined that the well was not fully penetrating into <br />the coal and the recorded well depth indicated that the well was plugged, the well was washed <br />out. Washing of the bedrock well was performed by inserting'/1' flexible black plastic tubing <br />M into the well and flushing the well with clean water. <br />CT&E Geologic Services 1 January 30, 2003 <br />Gillette, Wyoming <br />