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• (Page 2) • MINE ID # OR PROSPECTING ID # M-77-326 INSPECTION DATE 1 24 97 INSPECTOR'S INITIALS TAS NATIONS OBSER 1. A site inspection of the Siloam Pit was conducted as a follow-up to a previous inspection conducted on December 27, 1996. Ferd Mueller and Tom Stephenson accompanied this inspector to the pit. The purpose of the inspection was to gain an overview of the site and to discern when specific areas had been disturbed. Colorado Refractories Corporation is still listed as the permittee. However, the company has been sold and dissolved since the permit was issued in 1977. The two (2) companies currently involved with the site are BMI-France and Siloam Stone. 2. The 9.9 acre permit boundary markers had not been installed. A request was made in the previous inspection report for Adience, Inc./BMI-Colorado Refractories to install permit boundary markers by January 30, 1997. The Division will conduct another site inspection on or after January 30, 1997 to verify whether this request has been completed. Please see page 3 for details. 3. Site observations were made in reference to a recent survey submitted by Valley Surveying of Florence, Colorado. The survey was received in the office of the Division on January 21, 1997. The survey included most of the disturbances noted at the site. Additional disturbances that should be added to those listed on the January 21, 1997 submittal include a 1.0 acre clearing northwest of the pre-1976 pit and 2.0 acres of access road, slab rock storage, and stormwater controls. 4. This inspector estimates the total disturbance at the Siloam Pit to be 22.0 acres. There is 1.0 acre of pre-1976 pit disturbance which contains a road used to access the active pit. According to the survey submitted on January 21, 1997 and field observations during the inspection there appear to be 6.5 acres disturbed within the 9.9 acre permit boundary and 15.5 acres disturbed outside the 9.9 acre permit boundary. Please see attached copy of the January 21, 1997 survey with specific areas identified by this inspector. The Division has already sent Reason to Believe letters to both BMI-France as well as Siloam Stone for the disturbances outside the 9.9 acre permit boundary and has scheduled both parties to appear before the Colorado Mine Land Reclamation Board at the March 26-27, 1997 Meeting in Denver. The Division also requests at this time that either party submit a Succession of Operator's application form and following approval, submit an application for a conversion from a 110 (2) permit to a 112 permit. Please see page 3 for details. 5. According to Mr. Mueller Adience, Inc./BMI-Colorado Refractories has been actively removing clay minerals from several stockpiles near the site entrance. Both clay stockpiles occur outside the 9.9 acre permit boundary. There is a very large stockpile of high grade clay which exhibits signs of recent extraction. This stockpile was originally created by Ferd Mueller of Colorado Refractories Corporation, but has been owned and managed by BMI- France since 1990. A smaller low-grade clay stockpile to the south was being removed during the inspection via front end loader and hauled off site by a semi tractor-trailer identified as Red Mountain Contractors, Inc. According to Mr. Gary Snook of BMI-France, the bottom clay material in the small stockpile was excavated by a contract mining company prior to 1990, stockpiled on site, and then sold to Summit Brick Company in Pueblo. Red Mountain Contractors, Inc. were apparently hauling the stockpiled clay to Pueblo. 6. Apparently, all of the remaining disturbance has been created by Mr. Mueller. Mr. Mueller owned and operated Colorado Refractories Corp. until 1990. Mr. Mueller also permitted the site in 1977 and listed Colorado Refractories Corp. as the operator. BMI- France of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania bought Colorado Refractories Corp. in 1990 and the clay lease in 1990. According to Gary Snook of BMI-France, Colorado Refractories Corp. has been dissolved. Mr. Mueller has continued to operate at the site until present as owner and operator of Siloam Stone Company with a lease for the non-clay minerals. Mr. Mueller's interest in the site since 1990 has been primarily to mine the surface minerals which include rip rap, road metal, ballast, decorative rock, and building stone. BMI-France's interest in the site is the clay minerals which lay beneath the surface minerals. Mr. Mueller indicated that he had acted as a consultant to BMI-France since 1990. The current financial warranty and annual reports and fees since 1990 have been submitted by BMI-France; however, BMI-France never submitted a Succession of Operators application as was requested by the Division in