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II. Tie Camp Waste Rock Dumn <br />"10400 -10100" Levels <br />Site Description: The Tie Camp Waste Rock Dump was regraded in 1994 <br />following procedures approved in the February, 1994 Technical Revision. Visual <br />observations indicate that the repairs to the minor azeas of slope instability <br />(surficial "slips") that were performed in 1995 were successful and no new areas <br />of surficial instability were observed from 1996 through 2001. <br />2001 Observations: The 2001 observations aze similaz to those provided in past <br />reports. Piezometer TC10375 monitors the Tie Camp Creek Waste Rock Dump. <br />The water levels aze stable at approximately 171.6 feet bgs, with seasonal <br />fluctuation of approximately 2.4 feet for 2001. <br />III. Piezometers - 2001 General Comments (response to comment #1 & 2) <br />The 2001 water level measurements continue to confirm the normal seasonal <br />vaziations in the depths to water, and therefore, the thickness of the saturated zone <br />at the base of the Waste Rock Dumps. The saturated zone under the dumps <br />remains thin and similaz to past yeazs. Therefore, there continues to be no <br />evidence of concerns with stability. <br />The depth to groundwater in the piezometers has held fairly stable during the <br />yeazs of monitoring for most of the sites, even with the yeazly fluctuations. Site <br />IC1030Q however, seems to indicate a consistent pattern of increasing depth <br />(decreasing water elevation) each successive year. Normalized over the 70-month <br />period from November 1996 to December 2001, the piezometric surface at <br />IC10300 has decreased by 1.7 feet annually. This occurrence has not been of <br />concern since the piezometric surface and resultant pore pressures within the <br />waste rock dump aze decreasing. This decreasing piezometric elevation is <br />probable the result of several conditions, each of which indicates increased <br />stability within the dump: <br />• The Indian Creek Dump drain is located down-gradient from this piezometer, <br />which facilitates drainage at the toe of the dump, <br />• In general, annual precipitation in the region has been below average for the <br />last 6-years, and <br />• Increased revegetation success on the dump increases evapo-transpiration and <br />retains moisture in the thin, slowly developing soil horizon <br />Piezometer IC10300 also has anomalous annual fluctuations, when compazed <br />with the fairly consistent fluctuations of all other piezometer in the azea. This <br />could be a result of the type of fill around the IC10300 piezometer. When the <br />waste rock] was placed in the dump, there was very little control. The material <br />near IC10300 is probably coarse, poorly graded material that readily allows <br />downwazd migration of metoric waters. The Indian Creek Dump drain is also <br />directly down-gradient from this piezometer, which is likely facilitating drainage <br />in the azea. This has not been a concern for Homestake since the average <br />piezometric surface is decreasing. <br />