1988-06-20_GENERAL DOCUMENTS - C1981017

Home Browse Search

REPORT PAGE S Evidently, the coal is being sold as fast as it is being made. Bath lcngwal. ls are being run on hotseat schedules to try to keep up with the demand. As noted earlier in the report , the Sutey waste disposal area is undersized for the current rate of production. An additional 40 acre tract is being added on to the existing area to accomadate their needs. The site has been roughed out , trees cleared and preparations underway to remove topsoil as soon as site conditions allow entry. The diversions above the new area are staked. The underdrains for the cold pile will have to be extended into the new area and branched to pick: up :Fveral- new forks in the drainage. The site for the glary hale coal bins has been leveled but there doesn' t appear to be a lot of effort being directed into development beyond that stage. The sediment ponds below the preparation plant were checked. The upper pond in the series of three is full of sediment , of the ponds below that , the second one had a lot of foam on the surface but didn' t appear to have a lot of sediment in it so the outfall in the series was not exceeding their parameter limits. Scott said that the ponds were due to be cleaned but their dragline was dawn for maintenace. Their were a couple of pond systems can the mine that had the first pond in the series full of sediment . They will be identified as I go through the inspection. It is necessary that these be cleaned as soon as passible to prevent failure of the system. The ditch between the processing plant and the sediment ponds was checked. No overflow areas were noted, however , the headgate on the pipe for the drainage crossing on Bear Creel, needs to be rebuilt . It is a concrete box like structure that funnels the flaw into the pipe. As it is now, the cracks have not gone through allowing untreated mine water to go into the Creek but it should not be allowed to go through another winter cycle. Drainage systems in the processing plant yard were functioning as designed. The gated drains were clean and surface runoff water was being collected in the structures. There was some discussion about doing something with the overflow system on the Thickner pond, The spillway systems for the ponds discharge onto the mine yard when the pond is being used, which fortunately is not that much according to Mr . J-o-nes. The pond is only used when the system has to be flushed- He said he would look into trying to run the outfal l through a pipe or cement curvert structure down to the gated drain systems in the yard. All of the fuel tanks and fueling systems on the yard were contained and protected from accidental rupture. A couple of 500 gallon diesel tanks set up between the bath house pond and Bear Creek: are going to be moved per Mr . Jones. The tanks are bermed but the fuel is piped across the Creek for access which is potentially dangerous. The old refuse pile, now dubbed Bowman' s Mountain, was inspected. About 5 acres on the southwest side of the area is all that remains to be reclaimed this summer . The two ponds for the area were stable and functioning per design. The north pond was full of water but was not discharging. The smaller- one can the east side of the area was discharging through the primary spillway. The spillway appeared tube frost heaved a. little on the horizontal section of the pipe. Mr . Janes said he would Check it more closely and correct the situation if it was needed. No problems were noted on the pile. I asked Mr . Jones when they were cluing to remove the tail end of the