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r <br />1. The North Fork of the Gunnison River is 750 feet to the south and <br />100 feet above the proposed B-seam workings and 40 feet above the <br />C-seam workings. Groundwater is expected to travel downdip from the <br />river through the coal and overburden into the mine workings. <br />Because of the low permeability of the coal and overburden, <br />calculations Gave shown that these flows should be minor. The flows <br />can be expected to occur with a considerable lag time. There will be <br />a comparable diminution of flow in the North Fork but mine pumpage <br />will return this amount to the river, minus that used in the mine. The <br />cone of depression from dewatering of the strata will only extend"to <br />the boundary of the North Fork and will not adversely impact any <br />wells. <br />2. There is the potential that the mine may encounter water inflow from <br />faults and fractures. The location of these faults are unknown. The <br />largest fault that the old Somerset Mine encountered had a sustained <br />inflow of 120 gpm, which contributed 50 percent of the total inflow. <br />The Somerset Mine has committed to conducting a study of the <br />potential for mine inflow from the faults and fractures in the Coal <br />Gulch area. <br />3. The Sanborn Creek Mine will undermine portions of two abandoned <br />mines -the Oliver Mine and the Hawk's Nest Mine. The Oliver Mine <br />was mined in the 1930's and is known to be completely flooded. An <br />exposure of the workings adjacent to the old county road is discharging <br />water at a rate of a few gallons per minute, About 90 percent of the <br />workings of this mine lie downdip of the discharge point. <br />The Hawk's Nest Mine lies north of the Oliver Mine and is <br />stratigraphicalty higher than the Oliver D seam. Hawk's Nest mined <br />in both the E and F seams. The workings of this mine are probably <br />not flooded, as indicated by measurements in an old drill hole. Also, <br />during operation of the Hawk's Nest Mine, there was very little inflow. <br />Because there is the potential that subsidence could cause fracturing <br />of the interburden between the B seam and the flooded workings of <br />the Oliver Mine, the Sanborn Creek Mine has committed to limited <br />extraction under those areas known to be flooded. This would avoid <br />catastrophic inundation. The mine has supplied the Division with a <br />geotechnical analysis of the mine plan, demonstrating that it would <br />avoid subsidence-caused fracturing of the interburden. <br />4. The abandoned Hawk's Nest Mine has several drill holes that were <br />drilled down from the active mine into lower seams. These holes are <br />Sanborn Creek Mine 18 Permit Revixion No. 3 <br />