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<br /> <br />t <br /> <br />1 <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />1 <br /> <br />1 <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Creek to the south of the tailing pond and discharges into Ute Creek downstream of the <br />pond. The design capacity of the canal is based on the ability to bypass the runoff <br />resulting from the Probable Maximum snowmelt flood, as described in the 1982 <br />Wheeler report "Rainflood and snowmelt Flood Studies for the Henderson Mill Site." <br />As part of the milling process, tailings are delivered as slurry from the mill to the <br />impoundment where they are deposited using the upstream deposition m~athod. The <br />height of the embankment and the size of the impoundment continue to increase as <br />additional tailings are deposited. The tailing impoundment consists of the embankment, <br />beach area, and water pool. The primary purpose of the water pool is 1o provide a <br />means of clarifying the process water so that it can be recirculated back to the mill. <br />The recirculation system consists of vertical towers in the pond that decant water from <br />the water pool into a pressurized conduit that extends under the embankment. The <br />conduit serves as the intake to large pumps located at the Ute Park Pump Station. From <br />the pump station, the process water is delivered through a 36-inch diameter steel <br />pipeline up to East Branch Reservoir where it is stored until it is required .again in the <br />mill. <br />The decant system that extends under the tailing embankment consists of two <br />concrete encased steel pipelines. The diameter of the pipelines is 30-inch in the upper <br />portion, and 36-inch in the lower portion. One of the pipelines serves as tl~e intake to <br />the Ute Park pumps as described above. The second pipeline serves as the emergency <br />spillway for the impoundment in the event of dangerously high water levels in the water <br />pool. The spill level for the spillway pipe is set at the elevation corre:oponding to <br />approximately 800 feet of beach, which is typically 5 to 8 feet below the crest of the <br />dam. <br />4 <br />