BOARD02364

• Board Meeting Date: 5/11/1998
• Description: ISF Section - Carbon Creek - Case No. 4-96CW311 - Mount Emmons Mining Company
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

"

Mr. Dan Merriman
April 14, 1998
Page 2

e

for immediate use in the molybdenum mine and mill as well as for storage. It seeks
1,000 acre-foot storage rights each in Carbon Creek Reservoir, Elk Creek Reservoir
and Mill Creek Reservoir. An additional 3,000 acre-foot storage right is being claimed
for the Tailing Pond.

The Colorado Water Conservation Board (the "Board") holds a minimum
stream flow right from the headwaters of Carbon Creek to its confluence with Ohio
Creek. 1 The proposed Carbon Creek Reservoir is an on-stream reservoir that would
inundate approximately one mile of the stream reach encompassed by the Board's
minimum stream flow right. Accordingly, Mt. Emmons Mining Company hereby
submits a formal Request to Inundate pursuant to Section 8 of the Conservation Board's
Rules and Regulations Concerning the Colorado Instream Flow and Natural Lake Level
Program, 2 C.C.R. ~ 408-2.

Request to Inundate

Pursuant to Section 8 of the Rules and Regulations Concerning the Colorado
Instream Flow and Natural Lake Level Program, Mt. Emmons Mining Company
provides the following information for the Board's consideration.

e

Location of the Inundation: Carbon Creek Reservoir will be an on-stream
reservoir located near the headwaters of Carbon Creek. The location of the dam is at a
point on the south abutment of the dam axis from which the Southwest comer of
Section 28, Township 14 South, Range 68 West of the 6th Principal Meridian, bears
South 630 West, a distance of 3,100 feet. A map depicting the proposed Carbon Creek
Reservoir and the reach of inundation is attached as Exhibit B.

Size of the Inundation: Mt. Emmons Mining Company seeks to appropriate a
1,000 acre-feet storage right in Carbon Creek Reservoir. To construct a reservoir of
this capacity, the dam height will be roughly 130 feet, and the surface area of Carbon
Creek Reservoir will be about 29 acres. Approximately one mile of the minimum flow
stream segment will be inundated.

Impact on the Natural Environment: Mt. Emmons Mining Company has not yet
undertaken or commissioned studies to determine the impact of the proposed Carbon
Creek Reservoir on the natural environment. However, it will be necessary for
Mt. Emmons to obtain numerous federal, state and local permits before it can begin

] Tnis minimum stream flow right was decreed for 3.0 cfs in Case l'-."umber 8OCW109. Water Division
No.4, with an appropriation date of March 17, 1980.

e