2012-04-18_INSPECTION - C1980007 (2)

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April 10, 2012 C- 1980 - 007 /West Elk Mine JRS HYDROLOGIC BALANCE (cont.): to ensure the pond is discharged to this level. A piece of rebar (or roof bolt) driven into the ground with the permanent pool level painted on it would be sufficient. - The east cell of the RPE pond contained water approximately five feet below the top and the west cell contained a small pool of water and neither cell was discharging at the time of the inspection. These ponds are lined, incised ponds, which remained stable at the time of the inspection. As with the ponds described above, pond SG -1 and pond MB05E, discharge is through a gated valve that generally sits below the water line. As with the other two ponds, MCC needs to mark the permanent pool elevation of the water on the pond liners. - MCC was in the process of cleaning all of the roadside ditches following the spring snow melt. They have completed the cleaning of the ditch along the haul road to the Sylvester Gulch facilities area, including cleaning behind each of the rock check dams (rock socks). Although some of the ditches have not yet been cleaned, all of the ditches were stable and no erosional problems were noted. Additionally, none of the ditches that still need to be cleaned were blocked because of too much sediment. - MCC has roughed in the ditch from the RPEE to the RPE pond and is waiting until conditions permit to install the compacted clay liner and riprap (the ground in this area was still very spongy so equipment cannot access the area). The operator has straw bail in the ditch for interim flow control. Water has flowed in the ditch and it appears to be stable and functional. - Freshwater ponds FW -1 and FW -2 both contained water. FW -1 contained water approximately five feet below the spillway and pond FW -2 was full. Neither pond was discharging through the spillway at the time of the inspection. Both ponds are lined and were well vegetated and stable. No erosional problems were noted in either of the pond embankments. GENERAL MINE PLAN COMPLANCE: - The operator was mining in the E -Seam in longwall panel E -3. They were at approximately cross -cut 67. They have completed the headgates for panels E4 and E -5 and have completed the mains to the beginning of panel E -6. They were preparing to begin development work on the start room for panel E -4, which will be farther east than originally planned in order to avoid the sand channel and hydrocarbon problem that was encountered in panel E -3. Finally, the mine had a roof fall in the East mains between cross -cuts 23 and 25 that buried the belt line. They were currently digging out the fall and were not operating. They were expecting to be back up and running in about a week. All of the current mining information was on a large map in the basement of the office building. The mining is progressing as permitted and shown on Map 51. PROCESSING WASTE /COAL MINE WASTE PILES — Rule 4.10 and 4.11 Drainage Control; Surface Stabilization; Placement: - The operator was working on hauling the stockpiled refuse from the RPE to the RPEE. There is still a large stockpile of refuse that will need to be spread and compacted. The reclaimed slopes were all well vegetated and stable and no erosional problems were noted. There was a small slump on the east side of the pile in an area where a first layer of subsoil was placed last fall (a second layer will be placed on the pile this summer and the area will be seeded). There was a seep at the slump area so MCC may need to add a small filter layer to allow this water to flow from the pile and not build up and cause instability. There were also approximately six other seeps noted in the pile that did not appear to be causing a problem at this time. Number of Partial Inspection this Fiscal Year: 10 Number of Complete Inspections this Fiscal Year: 3 Page 3 of 13