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Objection to DRMS' Surety Increase Request
<br />January 14, 2016
<br />Page 3 of 5
<br />Which brings us to the TR -3 application of October 13, 2009, which addressed solely the
<br />proposed reclamation of the bench on which Ca1X proposed to erect a rockdust mill
<br />Pertinent portions of the TR -3, approved by DRMS on January 27, 2010, read as follows:
<br />"Reclamation of the pad area [hereinafter, the "mill bench"] will be completed using the
<br />current reclamation plan for the site."
<br />"Flat areas will be topsoiled with stockpiled material and seeded."
<br />"The disturbed 1H:1V slope [that is, the slope that existed, before construction of the
<br />rockdust mill, on the bench where such mill was to be erected] will be backfilled to a
<br />2H:1 V slope." [Much of this backfilling has already been accomplished.]
<br />In a table that was incorporated into the TR -3 application, Ca1X noted that, at the time of
<br />such application, it was aware of some 1,600 cubic yards of stored topsoil.
<br />Errors in the November 2, 2011 Surety Increase Demand ("the Czapla Demand"):
<br />In light of all of the foregoing, it is now apparent that the Surety Increase Demand of
<br />November 2, 2011 (which took Ca1X Minerals' Surety amount from $41,400 to the
<br />current $122,793, an increase of $81,653, or some 198% of the then -existing Surety) was
<br />erroneous with respect to each of the following claimed "tasks", with consequent `over-
<br />charging' of Ca1X — in 2011 — of some $64,000, as detailed below:
<br />a. Task Ola, for which DRMS then demanded $40,164.93 in additional surety, to
<br />assure "Demolition and/or removal of onsite facilities and structures", allowed no salvage
<br />value for the rockdust mill and building, and various other improvements within such
<br />building, all of which were achieved by Ca1X only after investing $2.5 million.
<br />b. Tasks 03a, 03b, 03c and 03d, for which DRMS demanded a total of $23,795.06 in
<br />additional surety, purported to accomplish the movement of some 23,148 cubic yards of
<br />backfill material to the "process bench" [that is, the bench immediately above the mill
<br />bench] and also to accomplish the transport to, and spreading upon, such bench of some
<br />1,936 CY of topsoil.
<br />There are two significant problems, here: first, the purportedly -required "backfilling and
<br />dozing" is happening on a continuous basis, in order to assure that Ca1X can remain in
<br />operation; and second, Mr. Czapla asserted, by this November 2, 2011 demand for
<br />increased Surety, that Ca1X Minerals was obliged to distribute on the "process bench"
<br />topsoil that had never been removed from such bench, and was, moreover, obliged to
<br />distribute on such bench more topsoil than was actually available to CaJX.
<br />c. Under Tasks 04a and 04b — which relate to the reclamation of the mill bench — it
<br />was asserted by Mr. Czapla that $4,078.26 would be required to move, doze and/or apply
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