Laserfiche WebLink
energy fuels coal, inc. <br />Southfield mine • post office box 459 • florence. colorado 81226 • (719) 784 -6395 <br />August 23, 2013 <br />Ms Linda Saunders <br />34315 Forest Park <br />Elizabeth, CO 80107 <br />RE: RESPONSE TO LETTER OF OBJECTION CONCERNING TR -40, MW -NW MONITOR WELL <br />Dear Linda Saunders: <br />of <br />The Division of Reclamation Mining & Safety (DRMS) has forwarded to Energy Fuels Coal, Inc <br />(EFCI), your email dated August 18, 2013, concerning your objection to Technical Revision No. 40 (TR -40) <br />pertaining to the monitor well MW -NW located at the Southfield mine. It is certainly understandable <br />that you and the other members of the Vento Group, as well as other landowners at the Mine, want to <br />ensure responsible reclamation at the Mine in accordance with State of Colorado reclamation <br />requirements. Please be assured that EFCI has and will continue to listen to those concerns. <br />However, from our perspective, our best guidance comes from the analysis and <br />recommendations provided by the organizations that specialize in the particular areas of inquiry that <br />come up from time to time. When the area concerns groundwater and hydrogeology, we use widely <br />recognized firms that specialize in the area, such as Bishop, Brogden & Associates ( "BBA "). The <br />Division's staff also provides technical expertise in evaluating the matters which we also consider in <br />working toward final reclamation. <br />So we are all starting from the same base, we would like to make a few clarifications with regard <br />to the history of the situation with regard to MW -NW. EFCI has consistently monitored MW -NW as <br />required by our Permit. An adjacent landowner (the "Corley Company ") expressed a concern of <br />whether or not MW -NW was in fact in communication with the Mine workings given information the <br />Corley Company had accumulated which caused it to question the extent of water refilling the <br />underground workings at Southfield. The "wooden block" that is lodged in MW -NW is a probe used by <br />EFCI to determine the depth of the well and if there might be any obstruction in the well casing. The <br />wooden block was not initially discovered by the DRMS staff as you stated. <br />Following the probing effort, testing of the well by EFCI proved the well casing was nevertheless <br />open to flow into the mine workings at an estimated flow rate of 50 to 100 gallons per minute (see <br />DRMS Inspection Report of April, 2012). Pursuant to the water test on the well, the DRMS lowered a <br />camera into the well to investigate the condition of the well casing. Photos from the camera show some <br />earth /rock material adjacent to the wooden block probe in the casing indicating the casing was partially <br />closed, believed to be from a roof fall in the mine workings or horizontal slippage of the strata in the <br />