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II. PROPOSED WAS7E DISPOSAL SYSTEM <br />• A. System Description <br />Coal mining wastes from the processing plant at our Hawk's Nest Mine, 2.7 <br />mi east of Somerset, Gunnison County (Figure II.A-1 and Figure III.A-1) will <br />be stowed in the mine by combining three techniques: <br />• slurry transport of waste into the mine; <br />• dewatering the wastes in the mine; and <br />• pneumatic transport and placement of the wastes. <br />This disposal system is a demonstration project jointly funded by Western <br />Slope Carbon, the U.S. Bureau of Mines, and the U.S. Department of Interior <br />Office of Surface Mining. A copy of the project proposal to the U.S. Bureau <br />of htines is included as Appendix I. The design phase of this project is cur- <br />rently scheduled for completion January, 1981. At that time, if permission is <br />granted by the Department of Health, and if federal funding is authorized, <br />construction of the disposal system will begin. <br />In brief, the disposal system will transport up to 100 tons/hr of mine <br />waste from the preparation plant to mined out pillar retreat sections 5400 ft <br />away. The mine layout and plan is illustrated in Appendix A. The system will <br />transport the waste flow from the preparation plant, through a closed-loop <br />slurry pipeline, to a mechanical dewatering system. The dewatered waste then <br />will be pneumatically transported to the mine spaces to be filled. <br />The underground coal waste disposal system is comprised of two subsystems: <br />• above-ground system, <br />• below-ground system. <br />The above-ground system is responsible for material sizing, slurry forma- <br />• tion, and slurry pumping. The below-ground system transports, dewaters and <br />pneumatically stores the waste material. <br />4 <br />