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(5) PHC: The impact of mining on the quantity of water in the White River will be <br />minimal. <br />The prediction is accurate. The operator withdrew water from the White River using <br />existing water rights. Water withdrawal in 2005 was slightly less than projected. <br />(6) PHC: The local rate of runoff of surface water will increase. <br />There is no effect demonstrated in the AHR and really no way to prove this. <br />(7) PHC: There will be a temporary increase in total suspended solids (TSS) to the <br />receiving stream. <br />The temporary increase predicted in the probable hydrologic consequences section (PHC) <br />would have occurred during mine construction, but the prediction no longer applies. The <br />effect of the sedimentation ponds on the site is to reduce TSS to levels lower than they <br />would normally be in the area during a storm event. Dischazges from pond DP-1 showed <br />consistently low suspended solids. <br />(8) PHC: The effects of subsidence in Red Wash and Slumgullion Gulch will be <br />short-lived. <br />This proved to be true in the period 1995-97 when the area was undermined. Monitoring <br />has since ceased. <br />(9) PHC: Refuse disposal effects on surface and groundwater will be minimal. <br />There aze no data bearing on this prediction. There has been very little discharge of <br />surface water from the ponds treating run-off from the waste piles. Geotechnical studies <br />showed there is no groundwater near the surface in the azea of the waste piles and the <br />extremely low precipitation prevents recharge in that area. Well RM-1 has remained dry. <br />(10) PHC: The impact on groundwater quality will be minimal. <br />Water quality has not been sampled in the bedrock groundwater wells since 1995. The <br />local bedrock dewaters as the mining passes through and no effects were noted in the <br />past. Alluvial groundwater shows no impact in Qal-5. Levels of total dissolved solids <br />(TDS), chloride and magnesium have decreased since 1986 and nearly every other <br />analyte has decreased in concentration since 1991. Please see the remarks at the end of <br />this analysis regazding geochemical sampling. <br />