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t~ w COLORADO WESTMORELAND INC. ~II ~I~~I~~I~II~~ ~I~ 999 P.O. Box 1299 Paonia, Colorado 81428 O 303-527-4135 June 16, 1986 Mr. Randall P. Price, Reclamation Specialist - Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Division 423 Centennial Building 1313 Sherman Street /ljA/ 1 ;-, Denver, Colorado 80203 JgBo RE: SURFACE DISTIIRBANCES Dear Randy: I am writing to confirm our conversation of 06/04/86 and your conversation with Jim Miller of 06/10/86 concerning the surface disturbances that have taken place on the mine site and on areas above the mine on previous reclaimed drill pads, On the morning of 06/01/86, fire broke out in the Orchard Valley Mine. After several attempts to extinguish the fire through the use of water and foam gener- ators, the decision was made to seal the mine to cut off the fire's oxygen sup- ply. To accomplish this feat, it was necessary to plug the intake and exhaust shafts, which are 30' in diameter, with a large amount of fill material. On 06/01/86, work started on moving fill material toward the shafts. The mater- ial selected was a subsoil pile located due east of the intake shaft which con- tained approximately 700 cubic yards of material, The second site was the slide area due north of the diversion channel which contained approximately 7,000 cu- bic yards of material, of which approximately 3,000 cubic yards of material were removed, Upon starting to move the fill material, it was discovered that the fan bench surface was wet and would not allow the travel of loaders across it. Therefore, on 06/02/86, river run material was procured from the Oelta Sand & Gravel pit located in the North Fork of the Gunnison River just north of Paonia. The river run material was mixed into the soil to allow the travel of the loaders across the fan level, This materia] was placed on the north and east sides of the In- take Shaft, The Intake Shaft was filled with 85 ft, of fill material, some from the fan lev- el, and some river sand, The Exhaust Shaft was filled with 118 ft. of fill ma- terial, some from the fan level and some river sand. The river sand was placed on top of the fill material to act as a sealing membrane. The river sand was procured from the Delta Sand & Gravel pit which is contiguous to the Gunnison River and approximately one mile northeast of Delta. The sealing procedure was completed on 06/03/86. • SuBSi^in a~ 0~ WESiMDPE~GND CDeL CDMPa NY Work has been started on the cleaning of the emergency overflow ditch; this should be completed by 06/12/86. The fan level working area has been smoothed out so there are no large holes where water could collect. Work will continue on the slide area following a discussion with Jim Pendleton of your office and consultation with him on the route we should take in handling the slide.