2016-06-08_INSPECTION - M1981112

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PERMIT#: M-1981-112 INSPECTOR'S INITIALS: ECS INSPECTION DATE: March 15,2016 OBSERVATIONS This was a monitoring inspection of the Builder's Aggregate Pit 112c permit conducted by Eric Scott of DRMS at 0930 on June 7, 2016. Permittee representative James Miner was present for the inspection. Also present for this inspection were Michael Stanley and Alex Kostra of the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers (USACOE), and consultants to the permittee Dave Johnson and Steve Belz. The Builder's Aggregate Pit site is an 80 acre 112c permit with a current reclamation bond of$11,750. The approved post-mining land use is industrial/commercial. The previous method of mining at this site was suction dredging along the south bank of the Platte River from within the flood plain. However, according to the last annual report submitted by the permittee, the last date of excavation or processing at this site was July 2013. Since 2013, severe flood events on the Platte River have filled in the previous dredge pond, and a portion of the Platte River now flows through the previously active portion of the site (Photos 1, 5 and 6). The remaining accessible permit area has been used primarily as a resale point for imported material, and to recycle concrete and asphalt (Photos 3 and 4). The site will need to maintain mining-related activity (mining/sales/reclamation) at least every 180 days to avoid the requirement for the permit to be put into temporary cessation status. The current condition of the site is also summarized in the attached photos. There are several significant items that will need to be addressed before this site could resume operations as currently permitted. These requirements have been summarized on the first two pages of this report. The most important will be securing the necessary approvals for re-routing the river back to its pre-flood channel from the US Army Corps of Engineers (US ACOE), and exposure of groundwater from the Colorado State Engineer's Office Division of Water Resources (DWR). USACOE is currently reviewing a proposed plan submitted by the permittee's consultants to re-route the river to its previous location. USACOE stated that if the river is returned to its pre-flood channel, they would consider the remainder of the permit area to be "upland" area. This would allow for the dredge operation to resume in the area south of the re-channeled river. At this time Builder's Aggregate has no approved well permit or substitute water supply plan, therefore no groundwater may be exposed at this site until the appropriate permitting with the DWR is completed and evidence of this is submitted to DRMS. The previous dredge pond has been completely backfilled by the recent flood events, eliminating the previous groundwater exposure at the site. Due to the limited nature of the existing disturbance at the site at this time, and the approved post mining land use of industrial/commercial, the existing bond of$11,750 would be sufficient to complete reclamation at this time if required. If/when dredge operations and groundwater exposure are approved by the US ACOE and DWR, DRMS will need to be notified so that the required bonding for any authorized exposed groundwater can be addressed. Due to the location of this site, the only practical solution for exposed groundwater bonding will be to bond for complete backfill of any groundwater exposed by any future mining operations, or dedication of permittee owned rights to DWR to cover any exposure. The appropriate bond will need to be submitted to DRMS and approved prior to the commencement of any future dredge activity. Any designated wetlands present on the site will also need to be identified and clearly delineated so that they may be preserved. Any wetlands disturbed will need to be mitigated appropriately through an approved US Page 3 of 5