Laserfiche WebLink
May 5, 2011 <br />Mr. Kent Gorham <br />Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety <br />Dear Mr. Gorham, <br />Thank you for the report of the test on the Southfield monitoring well NWMW. I wish that I could <br />have been there to ask some more questions about the water situation. I have asked George <br />Patterson most of these questions, but he does not answer or he does not know. <br />1. The NWMW previously had a pump. What was the amount of water pumped by year? If that <br />well pumped water until the pump was removed why is that well now dry? <br />2. Drill hole SF87 -07 which supposedly was reclaimed is about 780 ft. west of NWMW, and it <br />has water at an invert level of 87 ft. According to the Southfield mine map this well was <br />intercepted when they mined through. According to the drill log there were no perforations of <br />the casing so the water would have to enter at the mine level opening at the bottom of the <br />casing. How does the water rise in the casing if not from the mine? <br />3. Do the seals of the various mine sections distort the mine filling picture today? <br />4. The elevations of the water level in SF87 -07, SF87 -09 (another drill hole that was <br />supposedly reclaimed), MW65, and the surface outflow, are all about equal. Since I don't have <br />access to the Southfield portal monitoring pipe I can only estimate that this pipe outlet is about <br />15 ft. higher than the water levels in the other open wells. Is it just a coincidence that the water <br />levels in the other open wells are similar? <br />5. Newlin Creek flowed for about five weeks this season. I have asked George for an estimate <br />of the quantity of water leaving the Mountain Park, but he has provided only water depths for <br />several days in the wooden culvert at this western monitoring point along with one estimate for <br />one day of 0.8 cfs. Based on this data and our observations I would guess that there has been <br />about 75 ac. ft. of water leaving the Park this year, with no flow reaching the center of section 19 <br />at the eastern monitoring point. The majority of this creek flow disappears southwest of the start <br />of the GEC creek channel reconstruction as you noted and the remainder disappears northeast <br />of the Thompson road culvert. Both of these areas are over the Southfield pillared panels. The <br />only subsidence monitoring point on Newlin Creek is east of the pillared areas, and it is over an <br />intact pillar. Two other monitoring points called CV and Axle are on either side of Newlin Creek <br />above pillared areas and both have records of subsidence. How can it be ruled out that water is <br />not entering Southfield? I believe that this large inflow is the unexpected main source for the <br />water that has essentially filled the mine in about 12 years instead of the predicted 400 years. <br />6. When Randy Acre was the Southfield manager he told us that they had had a roof fall in the <br />One North panel. When it was cleaned up they could see way up in the roof to a void in the <br />mine above Southfield. I do not remember the exact location of this roof fall or the name of the <br />higher mine. Possibly it was the Liberty, but it is the basis for my belief that some of the mines <br />interconnect. Do your records show this event? Of course the other reason for this belief is that <br />with the documented subsidence there has been fracturing of the various overlying rock strata <br />which are no longer impervious. <br />