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March 18,2022 <br /> Page 3 <br /> and will not cause acid mine drainage. Any designated mining operation, <br /> including uranium designated mining operations, may seek exemptions from <br /> this status pursuant to Rule 7. <br /> (f) (1) Metal mining operations, permitted under Section 34-32-1 10,C.R.S. <br /> 1984, as amended, which do not use or store designated chemicals, shall be <br /> excepted from the requirements applicable to Designated Mining <br /> Operations, unless they have a potential to produce acid or toxic mine <br /> drainage in quantities sufficient to adversely affect any person, property or <br /> environment. It shall be the burden of the Operator or Applicant to <br /> demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Office that such potential does not <br /> exist. <br /> (2) The exception set forth in Rule 1.1(20)(f)(1) does not apply to Section 110 <br /> uranium mining operations. However, such operations may apply for an <br /> exemption from Designated Mining Operation status pursuant to the requirements <br /> and procedures set forth in Rule 7." <br /> The Division Letter does not reference this Rule or specifically identify which section of the Rule <br /> the Division relied on in making its DMO determination. The Division Letter also does not <br /> contain the information required by Rule 7.2.2(2). For instance, the Division Letter does not <br /> provide the factual basis to support its DMO determination by identifying, for example, what <br /> mining or post-mining conditions exist in connection with the Cross Mine that purportedly <br /> support the Division's DMO determination. See Rule 7.2.2(2) (requiring that the Division's notice <br /> be accompanied by, among other things, "factual statements including a review of the permit <br /> application, approved permit application, proposed or existing metallurgical process, known site <br /> geology or geochemistry, and the most recent site inspection"). <br /> GIR can only infer from the Division's statement that because the "Cross Mine is required to treat <br /> water to prevent the discharge of heavy metals into the Coon Track Creek" (emphasis added), and <br /> that the Division cited to Rule 1.1(1), the Division has concluded that the Cross Mine is an <br /> operation at which toxic or acid producing materials may be exposed or disturbed as a result of <br /> mining operations. <br /> Rule l.l(1) provides as follows: <br /> "Acid and Toxic Producing Materials" means natural or reworked earth materials <br /> having acid or toxic chemicals and physical characteristics that, under mining or <br /> post-mining conditions of drainage, exposure, or other processes, produce materials <br /> which contain detrimental amounts of chemical constituents such as acids, bases, or <br /> metallic compounds. <br />