DRMS Comment Objection Intake 8/30/2021 11:10:13 AM

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Your Phone Number* Used only to follow up. 817-205-37 Extension Alternate Phone Number Used only to follow up. Alternate Phone Extension Connection to Operation Select all that apply Land Owner of affected land Structure Owner within 200' of affected land Mineral Owner Nearby Resident ✓ Adjacent Land Owner ✓ Concerned Citizen Government Agency Other DESCRIPTION OF COMMENT OR OBJECTION as specific as possioi(, 7 Comment/Objection Narrative Dear Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety decision makers, PLEASE do not approve the Zephyr Gold USA Ltd mining permit application(mining permit No: M2021046)! The application does not include sufficient provisions to address short-or long-term risks and reclamation,lacks adequate environmental impact assessments,and does not make sense in terms of public risk versus public benefit. I ask you to please consider the information below for each of these three points as part of your decision-making. 1)Risks and Reclamation Water risks-The mine site at 6,500 feet elevation is 1,000 feet higher elevation than Grape Creek and the Arkansas River. It is upstream from the water plant intake for Fremont County.Any discharge from mining operations will find its way to the aquifers underground and/or the water flows.The mining operation would use approximately 65,000,000 gallons of water per year and an unspecified amount of chemicals.With the site just 1,000 feet above the Grape Creek and Arkansas River area,this creates the potential for pollution of the water for present and future generations. The demand for underground aquifers have been estimated in the permit as"insignificant"but there is no monitoring or measures to be sure that the demand is having an"insignificant"impact. Zephyr claims:"Not a single forest fire in the USA has been traced back to or been attributed to a modern mining operation."and"The mine operation will manage process water and stormwater.The mill process water will flow through a closed recycling system with very little discharge if any."How many unexpected disasters have resulted from mining?It is certainly possible that the proposed Dawson Gold Mine could be yet another disaster in the making. Fire risks-The permit is non-specific in the amount of water reserved for fire mitigation. It states"sufficient." There is no Fire Protection plan associated with the current application. How could government entities approve the permit without assurance of being able to mitigate a fire before it becomes a wildfire?The mine location is in a juniper forest,a semi-arid climate that is essentially a tinder box. There would be"approximately 13,000 pounds of explosives on site for up to a week of blasting activity... replenished weekly".Adding explosives to an area already a tinder box for a wildfire could create a wildfire that wipes out the entire region particularly without an established fire protection plan.Why incur this risk?