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Final Compensatory Mitigation and Monitoring Plan—Version 2.0 <br />Climax Mine Overburden Storage Facility Expansion (SPK-2013-00045) <br />March 2017 Bikis Water Consultants, a division of SGM Page 1 <br />1.0 INTRODUCTION/PURPOSE <br />This Final Compensatory Mitigation and Monitoring Plan (Plan) describes the compensatory <br />mitigation that will be provided by Climax Molybdenum Company – Climax Mine (Climax) -- to <br />compensate for impacts to waters of the U.S. from expansion of the overburden storage facility <br />OSF) in McNulty Gulch. Climax has submitted an application for an Individual Section 404 <br />Permit for the project and this Plan is being submitted to support permit issuance. The project <br />was assigned number SPK-2013-00045 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps). <br />Climax submitted a version of this Plan in December 2016. This updated Version 2.0 was <br />prepared to reflect an increase in the amount of mitigation provided, and to show the wetlands <br />impacted and the mitigation provided by mitigation phase, at the request of the Corps. A <br />mitigation ratio of 2:1 created-to-impacted wetlands was used in the December 2016 Plan based <br />on information from the Corps at that time. This Version 2.0 of the Plan was prepared using a <br />ratio of 2.2:1 based on updated information from the Corps. <br />Climax investigated several options for providing compensatory mitigation for impacts to waters <br />of the U.S. from the proposed project. This included use of both off-site and on-site options as <br />follows: <br />Colorado River Conservation Reserve (CRCR) wetland mitigation bank. The CRCR, <br />located along the Colorado River near the town of Kremmling, Colorado, is undergoing <br />Corps approval and could potentially be available within the next several years. <br />In-Lieu Fee (ILF) Program for the Western Slope of Colorado. The U.S. Forest Service <br />USFS) and National Forest Foundation (NFF) are developing an ILF program with <br />targeted mitigation projects throughout the western slope of Colorado. One of the <br />projects is the restoration of wetlands at the historic Camp Hale site in the upper River <br />basin (relatively close to Climax). Climax has participated in planning activities for this <br />project and has an agreement with the NFF to purchase one-third of the wetland <br />mitigation credits from the project, up to 60 acres, recognizing that the purchase of the <br />Camp Hale ILF credits would support the needed restoration efforts of the USFS and <br />NFF. Communications with the Corps and NFF indicate that advanced mitigation credits <br />could be available to Climax for the McNulty project within the next several years.