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<br />• -4- <br />The applicant has no monitoring well completed in strata overlying the <br />proposed underground mine workings because of the inaccessibility of the steep <br />terrain to truck-mounted drill rigs. Previous exploration drill holes at the <br />nearby McClane Canyon Mine have been dry to a depth over 200 feet below the <br />Cameo seam. The Cameo seam's associated roof and floor strata are not <br />water-saturated in the previously mined portions of the mine. The mine area <br />is not a recharge zone for these strata. <br />The rock strata within the permit and mine plan areas dip uniformly to the <br />northeast at 2 degrees. No faults have been identified in the proposed permit <br />and mine plan areas of the Munger Canyon Mine, but two high angle faults form <br />a graben structure in which the adjacent McClane Canyon Mine is developed. <br />These faults may contribute to the equilibrium of ground water levels in the <br />bedrock aquifers in the region. One set of entries in the McClane Canyon Mine <br />encountered a fault on the south side of the graben structure. Water flowed <br />from the fault into this mine. The fault eventually dewatered, and all of the <br />water produced was contained within the mine workings. Likewise, minor <br />unmapped faults may be encountered in the Munger Canyon Mine and may produce <br />inflows. <br />An alluvial ground water aquifer has been identified along East Salt Creek. <br />Monitoring wells established in the alluvium indicate that alluvial water <br />levels fluctuate seasonally in response to flow in East Salt Creek. Data <br />• collected by the applicant from the Salt Creek alluvial aquifer thus far <br />indicate a sodium-sulfate type water, similar to the characteristics of the <br />surface water in the system, as would be expected. <br />No wells or springs have been identified within three miles of the Munger <br />Canyon Mine. <br />Alluvial Valley Floors <br />East Salt Creek has been determined to be an alluvial valley floor. The <br />irrigated agriculture which exists in the East Salt Creek Valley is evidence <br />of this conclusion. The only physical disturbance existing on this alluvial <br />valley floor is the haulroad to the mine portals. This is a farm road which <br />existed prior to the operation and which was improved slightly far the <br />operation. <br /> <br />