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16 : 00 I was talking to Camille Farrell of the MLRD on <br /> the telephone and was asked what was happening here as <br /> they had a report of a spill occurence. I responded <br /> that I didn' t know, but would find out and keep her <br /> informed . As I was leaving the Silverton office I met <br /> Joe Todeschi and he told me what he thought was <br /> happening. He then called the mill and I went to Pond <br /> #3 to look at the situation. At Pond #3 I observed a <br /> small stream of grayish water (approximately 10 GPM) <br /> flowing over the berm. The source of the water was not <br /> evident , but it appeared to be a combination of ice <br /> melting inside the pond (the pond was full to or above <br /> capacity from winter thawing and freezing) and a source <br /> in the vicinity of the pump house . This water was <br /> running along a pipe line on the berm to a low spot and <br /> then over the berm. A small gasoline pump was set up <br /> and pumping approximately 10 GPM of runoff water into <br /> the runoff ditch between Pond #3 and Pond #4 from the <br /> ice on top of Pond #3 . As I was leaving to return to <br /> the office, the loader arrived to work on containing <br /> the water in Pond #3 . <br /> 16 : 40 I reported to Bill Goodhard, Resident Manager, and <br /> together we called you at the Colorado Department of <br /> Health and Camille Farrell of the MLRD and reported the <br /> situation as explained above . <br /> 17 : 00 Bill Goodhard and I then returned to the Pond #3 <br /> site to inspect the situation closer. We met with Joe <br /> Todeschi at Pond #3 and decided that shutting the mill <br /> down as reported to you would not improve the situation <br /> as the source of water was not the pump box but <br /> hillside runoff that was being caught and channeled <br /> along the berm by an ice ditch formed by freezing and <br /> thawing along a black pipeline laying on the ground <br /> (tailings transport line) . The gray color came from <br /> runoff crossing tailing spillage from the pump box. A <br /> loader was being used to build up the low spot on the <br /> berm to force the flow back into Pond #3 and the flow <br /> was basically contained. <br /> Following Events: <br /> A contractor was used to dig large sump holes along the <br /> berm (inside the pond) to catch the melting water so it <br /> could be pumped back to the pump hosue for transport to <br /> Tailings Pond #4 . He excavated up to 4 ' of ice built <br /> up by freezing and thawing throughout the winter . <br /> Enough 4" diameter pipe was ordered to place a graded <br /> gravity line between Pond #3 and Pond #4 to replace the <br /> line that should decant into the tailings transport <br /> line. This decant line plugs from tailings backup and <br /> freezing. <br />