2016-03-30_REVISION - M1982075 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Recently on January 21St,2016, an inspection by a representative of the Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety Minerals Program conducted an inspection of the permitted portions of the Phoenix mine. During this inspection, it was determined that the mining at the Phoenix mine had not taken place in Tess than 180 days causing violations of Rule 1.13.5, requiring the operation attain Temporary Cessation status, and that the current mine plan needed to be updated with additional clarification to satisfy C.R.S. 34-32-112 (2)f, since details of how potentially acid generating or toxic materials that might be produced was not sufficiently addressed. Lastly, the issue of bonding was addressed. The bond for the Phoenix mine is currently $200 and the representative observed that it would be impossible to conduct reclamation of the facility that amount. Correspondence based upon that inspection also provided a new required bond requirement of $9,200.00. The majority of this was stated as the amount to do "Demolition of structures and removal of refuse." The Mosch Family agrees that the bond is low to conduct reclamation work but strongly disagree with the assumed action of demolition of structures. The Mosch family, the owners of the mine, tour business and permit M-1982- 075 do not want the structure dismantled as part of reclamation activities. It is a necessary component of the currently operating mine museum tourist business and the buildings main core structure was constructed in the early 1920's, predating all current reclamation laws. The mine building contains various antique mineral concentration equipment that has and is used as a educational display for various tours. On the third of March, 2016, a meeting was held with the same representative of the Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety Minerals Program. During that meeting, the possible violations found during the January 21st inspection were discussed and what actions might be appropriate to mitigate them. The Mosch Family concern about requiring the dismantling of the mine building and displayed equipment was discussed. Based upon the discussions at that meeting, it was decided by The Mosch Family, to discontinue exploration and mining activities and allow the Phoenix Mine property to solely be a recreational tour mine and museum facility. The Mosch family has no desire to desire to convert the current permit to a 110D permit. It was determined at the March 3ed meeting that an amendment to the current permit will initially be required to define details of how the property should be reclaimed. After obtaining this amendment, the mine will then be reclaimed per the agreed upon amendment and the permit will be released. Proposed Revision of Permit M-1982-075 The purpose of this revision is to describe details of how the operators of the Phoenix mine will reclaim the permitted areas of the property rather than describe operational characteristics of how the facility will handle acid and toxic materials. The near term goal for the property is to reclaim it as a tour mine museum and to do so requires details of how the reclamation will be completed. The Current Mine Site Description The surface plant consists of five areas. These are shown in Figure 1 and are described as follows: Labeled with the letter "A" in Figure 1, is the historic mine building with the little concentration plant, shop and offices attached. The main structure of this facility was constructed in the early 1920's and was used as a shop and ore loading facility. This includes a trestle that was rebuilt in the early 1970's. The east side of this facility contains an addition that houses antique mineral concentration equipment. On the west side of the main building is an addition that was similar to the original attached shop. This addition contains an antique lathe and vertical machine parts milling machine. Above the addition on the east side is a mine office. The Letter "B" in Figure 1 shows the location of the two entrances accessing the underground portions of the Phoenix mine. Both of these have substantial steel doors with lock guards covering two sizable five tumbler paddle locks each. Both of these openings access portions of the mine that were used for exploration, mining and tour activities. The letter "C" in figure 1 shows the location of a trailer that contains an antique twin piston Gardner Denver air compressor and a rare 100 kw Cat generator that is started with a hand crank. 2