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3 <br /> <br />requested a hearing before this Board. See, e.g., JD-6 application letter dated November 22, <br />2017 (“To obtain approval of the second five-year period of temporary cessation and as directed <br />in the Division s June 29 2017 letter, Cotter requests a hearing before the Board at its <br />December 2017 meeting (currently scheduled for December 13-14, 2017) pursuant to Colo. Rev. <br />Stat. § 34-32-103(6)(a)(III) and Hard Rock/Metal Mining Rule 1.13.5(1)(b).”(emphasis <br />added)(attached). <br />The MLRA and Board Rule citations referenced by Cotter confirm that Cotter has the <br />burden of demonstrating its entitlement to a second term of temporary cessation. Importantly, as <br />discussed below, the requirements for an operator seeking the Board to grant a second term of <br />temporary cessation are procedurally and substantively distinct from the standards that apply to a <br />request for a first term of temporary cessation. Moreover, the Board’s Order in 2013, that Cotter <br />so heavily relies upon this proceeding, imposed the burden on the party that requested the <br />hearing. <br />For a first term of temporary cessation, the MLRA bestows temporary cessation status on <br />an operator so long as the operator “files a notice thereof with the board stating the reasons for <br />nonproduction a plan for the resumption thereof, and the measures taken to comply with the <br />reclamation and other necessary activities established by the board to maintain the mine in a <br />nonproducing state.” C.R.S. § 34-32-103(6)(a)(II). This is the reason Objectors were found to <br />have the burden of proof in the first proceeding five years ago – because the Objectors asked for <br />the hearing and it would not have occurred had the Objectors not filed a request for the hearing. <br />However, for the second term of temporary cessation, no such automatic grant is allowed <br />based on the simple filing of a notice. Rather, the operator must “file a report requesting an <br />extension of the period of temporary cessation of production with the board stating the reasons