Document em2dGzep9gYGM50aD8gKVd3VG

-----_._. --.-- -------~.------------.-------------- . --------- U. S. Department of Labor Mine Safety tnd Health Administralion 2721 North .:.nusl Avenue. Room 900 Phoenix, Ari lOna 85()(M / . August 2. 1983 Richud W. Johnson. Superintendent Cyprus Tale eollpany P. O. Box 296 Tecopa, CA 92389 Dcar Mr. Johnson: A Co.pliance Assistance Visit of the Panamint Mine (I. D. No. 04-01127 ). -S-l-io-s-h-o-n-e----------- Inyo County -ca-li-fo-r-n-ia- , loIas conducted on August 2-. 1-98-3 - - - pursuant t.o PulJIic 1..,1101 91-173 on(83 STAT. 742) as amended by rublic Law 95-164 (91 STAT. 1290). Zero ncnpcn31ty notices were issued. Sjncel'cly, 1 '." /rL:J~~-"6"4;.n~.. ).'t'rnon R. GOIIlCZ ,. / . Suhdistdc:t )uni\ger I ... -- &NbIt No. ot~~i -_._.ID. ,i PIIbk:IiI Ruby, N.P. c?'/Ol-?Y' vmr.. .1 CAM-22 104 - .., I.D. No. 04-01127 (CAV) ./ A Compi iance Assistance Visit (CAV) cf Panamint Mine. was requested by the aanagement .of Cyprus Talc Company. / Compliance assistance visits may be conducted at co~any request at new aines not yet producing; seasonal. closed, or abandoned mines prior to reopening; or new facilities or new installations of equipaent in an operating mine. Notices of violation will be issued fOT potential violations of the Act or regulations and for potential conditions: of i ..inent danger. Each notice will be clearing marked "CA.V~Nonpenaltt and will not be subject to aS5ess~ent of civil penalties. , . Tnis ~ine had stopped aining operations approximately 18 months previous to this inspection due to a large slide of wn5tc material on the cast side of the pit. This slide had destroyed the benchs on the east pit wall. After doing a feasibility study by Cyprus, it had been dete~ined to start at the top of the mountain east of the pit and rcstrip the waste aaterial on a 38\ stope down toward the bottom of the pit to a point where they could restart the benc~ing process. At that time there would be two 10hour shifts 4 days a week, Monday thru Thrusday. and one 8-hoUT shift on Friday. Before any stripping was started on top of the .ountain, there was quite a bit of waste material to be aoved near the bottom of the pit to CTeate a pad or loading area. That was where the men would be working. All necessary training had been completed. The employees were servicing the equipment during this investigation. They were asked if they had any questions or problems that We could help them With, all said no. The equipment to be used for the stripping was (one) new Cat. D9-L model with environmental cab; (one) Cat DS-K model also with environmental cab; (one) Ingersol TracPac crawler drill with 4~ feet down hole drill. .This also had an environmental cab. " .. There were two Cat Front-end loaders on the property, (one) 9S8 and (one) 966. The 988 will not be used. The 966 was used to load trucks from the stockpile. Other equipment on property consisted of (one) lngersol .odel 210 GyrFlo compressor and (one) Portable Miller welder. The compressor was only used for maintenance of equipment when compressed air was needed, same for the welder. There was no electricity used. The compa~ had set up a stationary transit with reflector prisms on the stope walls to monitor any abnormal movement during the stripping. An engineer would monitor the stope wall~ daily. ACKNOWLEDGMENT Management of Cyprus Talc Company is to be commended for their interest in the safety and welfare of their employees. !ro! V. Dwayne Cowley v. DWAYNE COWLEY Mine Safety and Health Inspector 105