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LKA International Inc. <br />Golden Wonder / Level 6/ Hydrologic Setting Methods <br />4. Cumulative groundwater from alluvium/rhyolite formations 4 infiltration into waste <br />rock 4 channeled to a point of release that is the waste rock toe seep <br />The `release point' that was studied in relation to the above sources and pathways; was <br />the Golden Wonder Level 6 waste rock toe seep. <br />The site conditions since 2007 have eliminated the pathways associated with Deadman <br />Gulch and the Historic Mine Collapse seep with the placement of an impermeable <br />geotextile liner system that captures emerging flows from these sources. However, it was <br />theorized that these two sources may yield sub-surface water seeps below the geotextile <br />liner as a conservative assumption. <br />The pathway associated with the Golden wonder underground managed water is also a <br />`theorized' pathway. The underground water management process associated with the <br />mine entails the routing of water back into the geologic formations that originally yielded <br />the water. The mine occurs within both alluvium and rhyolite fracture systems. A series <br />of sumps collect seepage water and provide enough volume retention + time to allow for <br />the water to infiltrate back into the underlying formations. It is unlikely that the water <br />would contribute a significant amount of flow to the waste rock toe seeps. <br />The final pathway was theorized as a result of the observed waste rock seep flows during <br />spring melt conditions in 2008. The toe seep was yielding a flow of at least 200 gpm. <br />Deadman Gulch and the Historic collapse seep was contained within the geotextile <br />channel. Underground conditions were relatively dry and at equilibrium. These physical <br />conditions indicated that a substantial, relatively shallow groundwater source is <br />contributing to the waste rock flows. Therefore this final flow pathway was theorized to <br />be associated with spring melt water that infiltrates to shallow depths (given the gradient, <br />and altitude conditions) that emerges in the coarse, surface alluvium at geologic <br />formation junctures where bedrock outcrops (rhyolite) encounter alluvium (Figure 2). <br />2.2 SAMPLING APPROACH <br />The water quality of a release point, such as the waste rock toe seeps; is a result of <br />`mixing' of sources along flow pathways. As a result, the water quality is a reflection of <br />the water source in combination with mixing of other sources as well as any water quality <br />change as a function of water encountering solid matrices along the flow pathway. In <br />order to understand the cause and effect relationships that result in the release point water <br />4