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PERMIT #: M- 1983 -176 <br />INSPECTOR'S INITIALS: TOD <br />INSPECTION DATE: August 14, 2014 <br />OBSERVATIONS <br />This inspection was conducted by Tyler O'Donnell of DRMS. Asphalt Specialties Co., Inc., the Operator, was <br />represented by Rob Laird and Gary Stillmunkes. <br />The Speer Mining Resource pit is located in Adams County approximately 0.5 mile south of Henderson <br />Colorado, just north of 120th Ave., and east of the South Platte River. The Speer Mining Resource pit is a <br />75.50 -acre 112 Construction Materials Reclamation Permit. The approved post- mining land use is general <br />agriculture. <br />This inspection was conducted as a follow -up to DRMS's August 4, 2014 inspection, for the purpose of <br />evaluating the Operator's efforts at mitigating upgradient groundwater mounding. DRMS required the Operator <br />to relieve all groundwater flow restrictions and upgradient groundwater mounding by August 14, 2014. <br />During the inspection, the Operator was excavating a new dewatering trench along the east side of the permit <br />area (the "East Boundary Trench "). The new trench was being excavated where a French drain will be <br />constructed in the future. Future construction of the French drain was approved in Permit Amendment 4. The <br />Operator had an excavator, front -end loader and three dump - trucks working on the trench. The Operator had <br />excavated approximately 600 linear feet of the trench. The upper 300 -foot segment of the trench parallels <br />Brighton Road and the lower 300 -foot segment extends to the exposed groundwater pond on the site. The <br />trench had been excavated through the overburden to the top of the un -mined alluvium. Water was seeping up <br />through the alluvium (see Photos 1 and 2). The Operator's representative explained that the segment that <br />parallels Brighton Road will be approximately 800 feet long when the trench is completed. <br />The Operator's representative explained that the Operator had not restored flow through a temporary dewatering <br />trench that crosses the site (that trench was discussed in the August 4, 2014 inspection report). The Operator's <br />representative stated that the Operator has focused the company's resources on constructing the East Boundary <br />Trench. The Operator's representative explained that the trench that crosses the permit area will be abandoned <br />after completion of the East Boundary Trench. <br />On the day before this inspection, the Operator measured groundwater levels in the two monitoring wells near <br />the East Boundary Trench. The groundwater elevation in well MW3 -AS was 5,015.9 feet and the groundwater <br />elevation in well MH -9 was 5,015.79 feet. Table 1 and Figure 1 show these data and historical water levels in <br />those two wells. A 2009 Deere and Ault memorandum, prepared for the Operator, specified lowering the <br />groundwater elevation to approximately 5,012 feet at the upgradient end of the trench that crosses the site. <br />After inspecting the Speer Mining Resource site, the Inspector drove by Mr. Levi Kirby's residence. Mr. <br />Kirby's basement has experienced ongoing flooding events. The sump pump was discharging water on the <br />front lawn of the house (see Photo 4). The groundwater elevation at the Kirby residence was at approximately <br />5,018 feet, based on the elevation of the home's basement floor as previously surveyed by DRMS. <br />After conduction the inspection the Operator has continued to monitor groundwater elevations. Groundwater <br />elevations in MW3 -AS and MH -9 began to show a decline in groundwater elevation as further excavation of the <br />east boundary trench continues see Table 1 and Figure 1. <br />Page 3 of 8 <br />