Laserfiche WebLink
<br />3.0 STATUS OF PROJECT OPERATIONS (2000 - 2001 ] <br />' 3.1 Extent of Current Disturbances <br />' The Yankee Gulch Project officially completed construction and began commercial <br />operation at the Piceance Site on October 9, 2000. Facilities completed at the <br />present time include the Piceance Site Processing Facility, solution mining wells <br />and pads, well field piping to connect the wells with the processing facility, well <br />field roads that will provide access to the various well pads and piping in the well <br />field, and American Soda's Main Access Road, which provides paved road access <br />' to the Piceance Site Processing Facility. <br />3.2 Piceance Site Processing Facility <br />' The Piceance Site Processing Facility is where the major solution mining <br />equipment, control room, administrative offices, maintenance shop, and other <br />ancillary facilities are located. Construction on the facility was completed in <br />October 2000. The facility houses the boilers and pumps that are used to heat <br />and pump the water used to solution mine the nahcolite mineral resource. In <br />addition, this facility includes initial processing equipment used to convert the <br />mined nahcolite solution into a solution suitable for pipeline transport to the <br />Parachute Site. The Piceance Site Processing Facility also includes a carbon <br />dioxide processing area, where carbon dioxide is processed and compressed for <br />' transport by truck. Ancillary facilities associated with the Piceance Site <br />Processing Facility include a heliport for use in evacuating personnel in the event <br />of a medical emergency, the main topsoil stockpile, a septic leach field area, and <br />an electrical substation located to the southwest of the process building as <br />illustrated in Figure 2. The total area of disturbance for the Piceance Site <br />Processing Facility is approximately 11.8 acres. <br />A 6-foot-deep, 1-acre evaporation pond is located just northwest of the Piceance <br />Site Processing Facility as shown in Figure 2. The pond contains storm water <br />' drainage from the processing plant area. The pond is lined with high density <br />polyethylene (HDPE) and bermed on all sides, with a spillway near its southwest <br />corner. The total area of disturbance for this pond is approximately 2 acres. <br />A 10.8-acre temporary !ay down and parking area was constructed in January <br />2000 (Figure 2) to support the construction effort. This area was used for <br />storage of structural steel, piping, and other building materials, as well as <br />temporary parking far the construction workforce. Reclamation of this area <br />I occurred during the 2000 - 2001 reporting period as described in Section 4,0. <br />A temporary concrete batch plant area was disturbed in January 2000 to <br />' support the construction effort. This area occupies approximately 1.5 acres just <br />American Soda, L.L.P. 3 <br />DMG Annual Report <br />July 13. 2001 <br />