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Chapter 1- General Overview <br />History of Revenue /Virginius Mine <br />The Virginius workings were started in Governor Basin for the Virginius vein at an elevation of 12900 feet in 1878. <br />After deepening of the workings, water was difficult to control so a water drainage tunnel was drilled from the <br />current location of the Revenue mine area to intersect the Virginius vein, approximately 7600 feet from the <br />Revenue portal. This tunnel was completed in 1893. Connection was made to the upper mine workings and water <br />began draining out of the tunnel. The water flow varied from 200 gpm to 1000 gpm and this water continues to <br />come out the tunnel, called the "Revenue portal" through the present day. The mine became active during various <br />time periods during the 1900's and thus, over the past 20 years, discharge permits were issued and released. In <br />2011, Star Mine Operations initiated a drilling program and the decision was made to re -open the mine. Star Mine <br />applied for mining permits and discharge permits in 2012 and these permits were granted. <br />Purpose of Report <br />The purpose of this document is to propose standards to insure no increased impact on groundwater occurs due <br />to Revenue Mine activities. There is also a focus on assuring that mine activity does not have an increased impact <br />on the health of Sneffels Creek, when applicable. These standards are expected to apply to future site well samples <br />and tailings sample analysis (using SPLP tests). The standards proposed in this report are developed based upon <br />historical water quality data as well as data recently collected from underground well samples taken on site. <br />Chapter 2 - Sampling Overview <br />Water sampling for the Revenue Mine operation occurred underground and on the surface for the DRMS <br />exploration permit, which occurred in the 4th quarter of 2011, well before the discharge permit application. The <br />first round of samples for the DRMS permit was taken in the fourth quarter of 2011. Since this date, sampling has <br />occurred at minimum once every quarter. Water samples were tested with ICP for many chemical parameters <br />such as metal concentrations, pH, conductivity, total dissolved solids (TDS), total suspended solids (TSS) and <br />hardness. Originally, sampling began with four surface water samples and four underground samples. Since the <br />first quarter of 2013, seven surface water samples and five underground samples have been collected. A map <br />showing each surface and ground water sample location can be seen below in Figure 1. <br />1 <br />