_INSPECTION - C1980007 (6) - Laserfiche WebLink

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October 24, 2012 C-1980-007/West Elk Mine JRS HYDROLOGIC BALANCE (cont.): -Last month the operator cleaned the ditch along the haul road to the Sylvester Gulch facilities area, including cleaning out all of the sediment from behind the rock socks. The ditch remained clean and stable during this month's inspection. -West Elk has completed most of the fresh water and sediment control ditches at the RPEE. Please see the Processing Waste section below for more details. GENERAL MINE PLAN COMPLANCE: -The current mining operations at the West Elk Mine are in the E-Seam in longwall panel E3. They are currently mining at cross-cut 8 at approximately station 10+00. They should be done with longwall panel E3 and moving into panel E4 in the middle of November. They are currently doing development work in the panel E5 headgate and are between cross-cut 30 and 31 at approximately station 55+60. There is no change in the development work in the panel E6 headgate or the E South Mains since the last inspection. The current mining information is shown on a map in the basement of the main office building in the operations area. Overall,mining is progressing as permitted and shown on Map 51 -E-Seam Projected Operations. PROCESSING WASTE/COAL MINE WASTE PILES—Rule 4.10 and 4.11 Drainage Control; Surface Stabilization; Placement: -West Elk continues to remove refuse from the RPE and haul it to the RPEE. They are excavating a lift that is approximately ten feet deep. This is being done to provide room to stockpile refuse at the RPE during the winter months when the RPEE is inaccessible due to weather(the operator believes that it will be difficult to keep the haul road open and safe). This stockpiled material will then be hauled to the RPEE when conditions improve (probably late in the spring). Overall the RPE was well graded and stable. There was no water pooling on the surface of the pile at the time of the inspection. The reclaimed portions of the pile are stable and well vegetated, with no erosional problems noted. The small slump area on the northeast corner of the pile remains stable. -The operator was hauling refuse from the RPE to the RPEE. The material was being dumped, spread and compacted. They are currently working on the third lift of the pile. The first two lifts are well graded and stable. West Elk is waiting to reclaim these lifts until they have a determination as to whether or not they can place additional refuse on that portion of the pile. The rock buttress and colluvial fill were both stable at the time of the inspection. The operator is also moving subsoil material from the area above the third lift of the RPEE to active subsoil pile 41. As stated above,work on the clean water and sediment ditches is almost complete. Clean water is conveyed into the ditch through a large,plastic culvert. The ditch bottom is approximately four feet in width, approximately two feet deep and has side slopes that appear to be 2:1. The ditch has a lining of river rock and the D50 appear to be approximately nine inches. The ditch daylights at the bottom of the draw and flows into the undisturbed. At the discharge point there is a splash pan made from larger pieces of durable rock. This area should be monitored to ensure that there is no erosion into the native channel and undisturbed area. The sediment ditch has a bottom width of approximately eight feet,a depth of approximately three feet(although the overall depth,based on the remaining side slopes that are not riprapped,is approximately six feet)and has side slopes that appear to be 2:1. The ditch is lined with riprap and the D50 appears to be approximately 12 inches. At the bottom of the draw the ditch takes a 900 turn to the west and flows into a half-culvert that is approximately 36 inches in diameter. This half culvert then flows into the RPE Pond. The operator will need to carefully monitor the area where the ditch makes the 900 turn for stability. Number of Partial Inspection this Fiscal Year: 1 Number of Complete Inspections this Fiscal Year: 2 Page 4 of 31