2012-04-18_INSPECTION - C1980007 (2)

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April 10, 2012 C- 1980 - 007 /West Elk Mine JRS PROCESSING WASTE /COAL MINE WASTE PILES (cont.) - MCC was working on spreading and compacting refuse on the RPEE. They have completed filling the hole that was behind the colluvial fill with refuse. They were now placing, spreading and compacting refuse on the surface of the pile. The refuse appeared to be well compacted and was graded to allow for positive drainage. There was no water pooling on the surface of this pile at the time of the inspection. ROADS — Rule 4.03 Construction 4.03.1(3)/4.03.2(3) Drainage 4.03.1(4)/4.03.2(4) Surfacing and Maintenance4.03.1(5) and (6)/4.03.2(5) and (6) Reclamation 4.03.1(7)/4.03.2(7): - The mine access and entrance road is a paved road to the mine office. The road was well maintained and stable. The rest of the road, that goes to the portals, was also well maintained and stable. - The road to the Sylvester Gulch facilities area was well graded and stable and no rutting or erosional problems were noted. The road to the upper degas wells and around the facilities were all stable, with no problems noted. - All of the roads around the coal stockpile and lower facilities area at the main mine site were well graded and stable and no problems were noted. - The haul road to the RPEE has been completed and the slide mitigation work will be discussed further in the "Slides and Other Damage" section below. The road was well graded and stable. All of the rutting that was noted in last month's inspection report, due to the wet, muddy conditions, has been repaired. There was no further rutting and no erosional problems were noted on the road. Now that construction of the RPEE haul road has been completed, MCC must submit a Technical Revision to the Division with an as -built map and report for the road. SLIDES and DAMAGE - Rule 4.12: - The stacking tube 2 slide remediation area remained stable at the time of the inspection. MCC has seeded the slide area and covered the area with coconut fiber matting to help control erosion. - The operator has completed the slide remediation at the HR -1 slide area. While the slide area remains stable, there appeared to be several areas that had tension cracks. The operator stated that they believed they were cracks due to the area being regraded while there was frost in the ground. Regardless of the cause, these areas need to be fixed and their locations should be noted and they should be monitored for long -term stability. The operator has cut a ditch at the base of the slide area to expose the bottom of the filter blanket and to allow water that has been captured by the blanket to floe away from the toe of the slide. The ditch exposed approximately two feet of the filter blanket. The operator may want to consider making the ditch larger to expose more of the filter blanket. Further instability (possibly temporary instability) was noted at the east end of the ditch, where material has sloughed off of the reclaimed slope and into the ditch. There was evidence that the filter blanket has discharged water into the ditch. The French drain that was installed in the west slide area appeared to be working, as water was discharging out of the outlet pipe at the time of the inspection. The Division is currently reviewing Technical Revision 128, which is an as- built and stability demonstration for the slide remediation area (the revision was deemed incomplete on 6 April 2012). DOCUMENTS RECEIVED: None This concludes the 10 April 2012 inspection report for the West Elk Mine.- Number of Partial Inspection this Fiscal Year: 10 Number of Complete Inspections this Fiscal Year: 3 Page 4 of 13