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• III IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII BATTLE MOUNTAIN GOLD COMPANY • ~-i~-t ;1-i1~f-, , April 17, 1996 APk 'I y ~yyf awnEMOUNCVN GOLD COMPANY Mr. Jim Dillie Division of „vne.~ee ,i,.~.., Division of Minerals and Geology 1313 Sherman Street, Room 215 Denver. Colorado 80203 Subject: Battle Mountain Resources, Inc. -San Luis DMG Permit No. M-88-112 Leak in Tailings Pond Liner and Release of Tailings Material Dear Mr. Dillie: The following is a recap of the situation that occurred with the liner of the tailir gs pond last week. The leak in the flange was originally noticed on Thursday April 4, 1996 and was immediately fixed. The flange began leaking again on Saturday April 6, 1996. Immediately, a pallet was placed over the liner to prevent the high pressure flow from hitting the liner. The foreman on duty checked the leak on his routine site checks, the last time he checked was just before he went off duty at approximately 5:OOAId Monday morning April 8, 1996. At the time he saw that the pallet was still holding and no problems were noticed with the liner. The Mill General Foreman checked the area again when he came on duty. This was 6:30AM Monday April 8, 1996. At this time he noticed that the leak had punctured the liner and immediately took action to stop and :ontrol the leak. I was asked to take a look at the area at 9:30AM. At the time, an employee was already working on replacing the flange and the flow had been stopped. While the employee was working on the flange there was still a trickle of fluid coming from the pipe. I immediately called the Mill Superintendent to get the full information on the situation and in turn notified the Mine General Manager. The Mine General Manager and myself cut the liner back in order tc determine approximately the volume ~f fluids released. Using the last analysis of post detox of 4.6 ppm in order to determine the volume of cyanide released, it was determined that approximately 0.03 Ibs of cyanide were released. The Governmental and Environmental Affairs Coordinator was immediately notified. She recommended that we notify the Division of Minerals and Geology. All cleanup efforts were put on hold until the Division could get an inspector here. Upon your arrival a jumping jack was ordered and received that day. Employees immediately began digging out the saturated soils and the liner was eventuall~i cut back about 80 feet in order to get to all contaminated material. By the end of the d,3y all P,O. BOX 310 SAN LUIS, CO 81152-0310 (719) 672-3362 EXT. 39 FAX (719) 672-3363