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Lion Creek is fed by perennial springs, one of which originates south of the <br /> Black Hat Mine and flows into the drainage and across the toe of the Blue Cap <br /> a� waste which lies in the drainage. Water also emerges from a drain pipe at the <br /> St. Patricks Mine. This water exceeds EPA drinking water standards for gross <br /> alpha, Ra-226, and Selenium. Other waters were not tested. The eroded waste <br /> material is likely to continua moving down Lion Canyon and into La Sal Creek <br /> during high runoff events. The dumps and stockpiles were estimated to contain <br /> 30,000 cubic yards of waste rock (Bio West, 1988) . Uranium content is probably <br /> somewhat below the average ore grade which was typically . 25 % U3080. Near <br /> J surface equivalent radium concentrations vary from 46 to 189 Ra-226 (epCi/g) <br /> (DOE, 1989) . Approximately 75,000 cubic yards of waste were generated as <br /> estimated by DOE (1989) . The difference between the estimates of waste <br /> J generated and waste on-site may indicate that most of the material was either <br /> hauled off-site by the miner or it was eroded and carried downstream in Lion <br /> Creek. It is likely that some of the eroding material continues entering La Sal <br /> Creek during storm events. <br /> J <br /> YELLOW CIRCLE MINE <br /> 1 The Yellow Circle was one of the most productive mines on the Colorado Plateau. <br /> �f It also was one of the largest, covering about 15 acres and lining both sides of <br /> Kane Spring Canyon with a total of about 20 adits. Only two of the adits at <br /> the upstream end of the workings are likely to be on lands administered by the <br /> Manti-LaSal National Forest. The rest and largest portion of the mine is on <br /> lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management. <br /> The Yellow Circle mine occupies the lower slopes and sandstone benches and the <br /> narrow, relatively flat intermittent streambed of Kane Springs Canyon for a 1/3 <br /> mile length of the canyon. <br /> One set of edits was driven into a mineralized sandstone at streambed level <br /> within the Salt Wash Member of the Jurassic Morrison Formation. Another set of <br /> adits was driven into a higher mineralized sandstone above the streambed. A <br /> mudstone unit separates the two zones. The mine waste from the upper zone form <br /> small piles above the streambed level. Waste dumps of the lower zone are in the <br /> streambed and are being eroded. The total of less than 1000 cubic yards of <br /> waste dump material, as estimated by Bio West (1988) , is small for a mine with <br /> r so many adits and high production. Information provided by DOE (1989) shows <br /> that almost 57,000 cubic yards of waste was generated. The difference between <br /> the estimates of waste generated and waste on-site may indicate that most of the <br /> material was either hauled off-site by the miner or it was eroded and carried <br /> downstream in Kane Springs Gulch. Uranium content within the waste piles is <br /> probably somewhat less than the average ore grade of.25a U308. Near surface <br /> equivalent radium concentrations vary from 30 to 497 Ra-226 (epCi/g) (DOE, i <br /> 1989) . It is likely that material continues to erode from the piles and run j <br /> down Kane Spring Gulch during storm events. I <br /> r MINES IN THE MONTICELLO RANGER DISi'RICT <br /> I <br /> mll of Lne mines olscussea below lie on the west side of the District . <br /> t <br /> I <br /> i <br /> � I <br />