Laserfiche WebLink
Henderson Mine SPCC/MCP May 1999 <br />2.2 Facility Description <br />2.2.1 General <br />The Henderson/Urad operation stores and uses petroleum products and "hazardous <br />substances" (as defined by amendments to the Clean Water Act) in the mining of <br />molybdenum ore and treatment of water generated during mining. The scope of the <br />project can best be understood by sepazately discussing its two major components: (1) <br />the Henderson Mine; and (2) the Urad Minesite. <br />2.2.2 Henderson Mine <br />The mine (Figure 1) is located on the north side of Red Mountain near the confluence of <br />Butler Gulch and the West Fork of Cleaz Creek. It is nine miles west of Empire, <br />Colorado, in Clear Creek County on the eastern slope of the Continental Divide. The 1.5 <br />mile access road to the minesite leaves U. S. Highway 40 at the small village of 13erthoud <br />Falls, Colorado. The elevation at the minesite is 10,400 feet. Expressed as longitude and <br />latitude the Henderson Mine location is: 39° 45' north latitude and 105° 'i2' west <br />longitude. <br />Approximately 180 million tons of 0.387 percent molybdenite ore aze located about 2,200 <br />feet beneath the base of Red Mountain. The ore body is elliptical in plan (3,OOG x 2,000 <br />feet) and varies between 400 and 1,200 feet [hick. <br />Access to the mine is gained by a 28 foot diameter vertical shaft which is 3,100 fret deep. <br />Four other shafts service the ventilation requirements for intake and discharge air. <br />Horizontal drifts (tunnels) at the bottom of the shafts provide access to the ore body. A <br />highly mechanized panel-cave system of mining is being employed with a nominal <br />capacity of 40,000 tons per day. Diesel powered rubber-tired equipment is us~;d in the <br />mining process. <br />A railway employing electrically powered locomotives is used to haul the min~;d ore to <br />the Henderson Mill (Figure I). The railway begins as a tunnel on the edge of the ore <br />body at an elevation of 7,500 feet (4,800 feet below the summit of Red Mountain). The <br />tunnel runs west for 9.6 miles, surfacing at an elevation of 9,000 feet neaz the confluence <br />of the Williams Fork River and Dazling Creek on the western slope of the Continental <br />Divide. <br />Afrer surfacing, the railway continues west and north for another 4.8 miles to the crusher <br />at the mill site. The surface portion of the railway and the mill aze under a separate <br />materials containment plan prepazed pursuant to the requirements of the Henderson Mill <br />• Discharge Permit CO-0000230. <br />z <br />