Laserfiche WebLink
L 13.3, Operator's activities at the Sunday Mine Complex indicate that the permits <br />are no longer in temporary cessation of production." <br />3. On June 30, 2020, the Division administratively placed the Sunday <br />Mine Complex permits on active status as of June 10, 2019. <br />4. On September 8, 2020, the Division received Temporary Cessation <br />Notices for the permits in the Sunday Mine Complex. In those notices, Operator <br />stated that temporary cessation began on February 26, 2020 and that mining <br />activities had ceased "due to the COVID-19 pandemic." <br />5. Operator also submitted a letter dated August 23, 2020 (received by <br />the Division on September 8, 2020), further explaining why it had not restarted <br />mining operations within 180 days of ceasing operations on February 26, 2020. <br />Operator stated that the pandemic had not abated over the summer months and <br />that putting miners underground in close proximity to each other would put crews <br />at risk of infection. Operator also pointed to pandemic -related reduction in demand <br />for raw metals, its impact on pricing for uranium and vanadium ore, and potential <br />impacts to federal demand for a strategic uranium reserve. <br />6. On September 9, 2020, the Division informed Operator that its notices <br />of temporary cessation were complete and that the matter had been set for Board <br />consideration at its October 21, 2020 meeting. <br />7. Objectors filed an objection and request for party status on October 2, <br />2020. The objection reiterated Objectors arguments made in the July 21, 2020 <br />proceeding that the Sunday Mine Complex mines had not been in production for <br />longer than ten years. Objectors also argued that Operator had not complied with <br />Rule 1.13.5(2) including by not providing a plan to resume production at the end of <br />temporary cessation. <br />8. At the hearing, the Division presented testimony regarding the status <br />and history of the Sunday Mine Complex permits. All the mines in the Sunday <br />Mine Complex entered a first period of temporary cessation in 2015. The Division <br />placed the mines back into active status on July 30, 2020, effective as of June 10, <br />2019. The Division requested clarity from the Board as to whether its decision in <br />the July 2020 heaxing determined that the Sunday Mines Complex permits were in <br />active status and, if so, when the mines became active. The Division also expressed <br />its view that the current application for temporary cessation would put the permits <br />into a first period of temporary cessation. <br />Pi.non Ridge Mining, LLC <br />Sunday Mine Complex, file numbers M-1978-039 (St. Jude Mine), M-1981-021 (West <br />Sunday Mine), M- 1980-055HR (Topaz Mine), M-1977-285 (Sunday Mine), M-1977- <br />416 (Carnation Mine). 2 <br />