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Sec. 17: NE'/4NW'/4, and NW'/4NE'/4, North of the Centerline of the River and <br />Town of Somerset <br />Township 13 South, Range 91 West, 6th PM — <br />Sec. 1: All <br />Sec. 2: Lots 1, 2, 3, 4, S'/2NW'/4, S'/2NE'/4, SE'/4, N'/2SW'/4 <br />Sec. 3: Lots 1, 2, 3, S'/2NE'/4, N'/2SE'/4 <br />Sec. 11: E'/2NE'/4 <br />Sec. 12: All <br />Sec. 13: Lot 1, N'/2NE'/4 <br />Summary of Previous Bond Releases <br />Partial Phase I Bond Release SL-1, was received on February 27, 2019 and requested a release of <br />19.4 acres located on the Lower and Middle Pads of the Elk Creek Mine facilities area and a <br />portion of the East Yard area. The Division approved the Partial Phase I Bond Release SL-1 on <br />October 18, 2019 and released $210,404.76 <br />An application for Partial Phase I, II and III bond release was received by the Division on <br />September 16, 2019. The application was deemed complete on December 4, 2019, after the <br />Division received proof of publication of the applicant's public notice. Oxbow published notice <br />of the bond release application in the Delta County Independent once weekly for four <br />consecutive weeks, beginning October 2, 2019. Oxbow also notified land owners within and <br />adjacent to the mine permit area, and other interested parties of the application for bond release, <br />as required by Rule 3.03.2(1). <br />No comments, written objections, or requests for an informal conference regarding the bond <br />release application were received by the Division. <br />The Division scheduled and conducted a bond release inspection beginning on July 7, 2020, <br />which allowed time for snow to melt and roads to dry out. The site inspection was conducted in <br />accordance with Rule 3.03.2(2). The inspection was attended by Leigh Simmons and Jason <br />Musick (Division), Christine Belka (OSMRE), Doug Smith and Mike Ludlow (Oxbow), Dan <br />Gray (USFS), and Desty Dyer (BLM). No representatives of Hotchkiss Ranches were present, <br />although they had been notified of the inspection by certified mail. A follow up inspection was <br />made on August 13, 2020, attended by Leigh Simmons and Doug Smith. <br />At a meeting before the July 7 inspection, the list of sites included in the SL-2 application (pages <br />4-8 of the application packet) was reviewed by all parties. It was agreed that several of the sites <br />would be withdrawn from the application and excluded from the inspection since their post - <br />mining land use was subject to revision with TR-78, which was in progress at the time (and still <br />is, as of the date of these findings), or because the site in question had not been reclaimed in <br />accordance with the currently approved reclamation plan. A number of the rows in the <br />application tables were determined to be duplicative. The final list of sites to be released with <br />SL-2 is given in Table 1, below. <br />C-1981-022, SL-2 Page 4 of 23 <br />