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' Mayo and Associates, LC <br />'. 2. INTRODUCTION <br />' Mountain Coal Company (MCC) encountered appreciable, fault-related, groundwater <br />inflows during B Seam mining activities in West Elk Mine. The water from the inflows, <br />which was stored in fractured sandstone bodies in the Rollins Sandstone that underlie the <br />B Seam, discharged from the mine floor when tectonic faults were crossed during mine <br />development work (Mayo and Associates, 1998, 2004; Mayo and Koontz, 2000). <br />' In 2004 Mountain Coal Company anticipates initiating longwall mining in the E Seam <br />reserve. The E Seam reserve has not been previously mined at West Ells Mine, however, <br />' surface exploration boreholes have been used to evaluate the character of the reserve. <br />' The borehole exploration program did not provide direct information regazding the <br />' ~ potential for groundwater inflows. Because direct groundwater information from the E <br />Seam is not available, potential groundwater inflows can only be evaluated by inference <br />' from groundwater inflows at West Elk Mine and elsewhere in the Wasatch Plateau and <br />Book Cliffs, Utah, where similar geologic and hydrogeologic conditions occur. <br />' The purpose of this investigation is to identify surface or groundwater resources that pose <br />' a risk to successful mining of the E Seam reserve. Potential water sources include <br />surface reservoirs, streams, tectonic faults, sandstone channels, massive sandstones, and <br />' igneous intrusions. The area of interest encompasses approximately 16,200 acres and <br />' includes MCC federal coal lease C-1362, Dry Fork LBA area, Sunset Trail Exploration <br />azea, and MGFCO fee lease azea. <br />'~ <br />' Evaluation of Potential Groundwater Inflows 9 February 24, 2004 <br />Associated with E Seam Mining, <br />~ West Ells Mine, Somerset, Colorado <br />