2016-03-15_PERMIT FILE - M1980244

Home Browse Search

r 01.6 MINING AND SAFETY RECLAMATION ��DIVISION OF REccr h 10,�O 1313 SHERMAN STREET, ROOM 215 N �5 J?Pjl§ r DENVER, COLORADO, 80203 MAR 15 016 DIVISION OFF MINING AND-, �11 I IC Re: NOTICE OF FILING AN APPLICATION AGREEMENT FOR COLORADO"%4*- RECLAMATION PERMIT M-1980-244,CRESSON PROJECT,AMENDED:AMENDMENT To whom it may concern; My name is Dennis Lanning,a managing general partner of Dewey-Dwight&Associates LLP. We, with Gold Mine Tours, Inc., own and operated the Mollie Kathleen gold mine tour in Cripple Creek, CO. As described below, our fee lands abut the expanded permit area here. We would like to generally describe both our interests,and, our concerns. Having been properly informed of pending operations of Newmont's Amendment 11,which advances the permit boundary to the outer limits of neighboring DEWEY-DWIGHT & ASSOCIATES L.L.P. owned Cripple Creek Mining District property (legally defined as Mollie Kathleen Lode MS 8661, Queen Bess Lode MS 7530, El Paso Lode MS 7377 and Badger Lode MS 14409),we tender our comments.As adjacent owners,we feel duty bound by respect for public wellbeing and mine safety for our employees and that of the visiting public at large. We hope that you accept our comments in that light. It is not the intent of Dewey-Dwight&Associates, L.L.P., Gold Mine Tours, Inc. nor the Mollie Kathleen Mine, to discourage or disrupt Newmont Mining Company's planned mining expansion efforts,but, rather as an act of performing our obligation to maintain mine safety for our own employees and the public visitors at large. We will focus our comments to inform the Division of Reclamation Mining Safety of existing issues regarding potential disruption to Mollie Kathleen mine safety and structural stability, which could be the unintended consequence of operations on neighboring or nearby grounds. These concerns focus on: ventilation, structural stability, control of airflow,and, above all, public safety. The Division should be informed that there does exist an agreement negotiated with Anglo American during its tenure at the Cresson operation governing certain access and ventilation practices in interlinked underground working and mine openings. Newmont is the successor to Anglo in that agreement. Currently, it is unknown how the expansion of Newmont's operations might impact that agreement, and, the underground tour operations of the Mollie Kathleen. We have informed Newmont of our concerns in this regard, in substantial detail, and have conducted, and continue to offer, the opportunity for underground tours of the interlinked workings to discuss these concerns in detail. The Dewey-Dwight owned Cripple Creek Mining District property is home to the long standing MOLLIE KATHLEEN GOLD MINE TOUR ATTRACTION that has conducted publicly offered mining tour of the Mollie Kathleen and Queen Bess 1'000 ft. level subsurface mine workings. Yearly visitors worldwide tour the Mollie Kathleen Mine Tour Attraction during daily offered tours scheduled throughout the months of April through October and have been doing so since the late 1930's. Public guest access the 1,000 ft. 101h level mine working by the use of a typical district two-compartment mineshaft engaging traditional use of cable