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• (Page 21 • MINE ID # OR PROSPECTING ID # M-1978-091 INSPECTION DATE 10(18!01 INSPECTOR'S INITIALS RCO OBSERVATIONS This inspection was performed by the Division as part of its required monitoring of Hard Rock and Metals 110 DMO permits. The operator was contacted about the inspection. The operators named on page one were present throughout the inspection. The 6 level area was active at the time of the inspection. Personnel were preparing small portable equipment for breaching ore sacks and conveying ore to be handled for offsite assay. There was equipment onsite, but nothing was operating. The equipment and structures onsite were all portable. The storage area included a shed and numerous racks and pallets containing equipment and parts. The was no leaking equipment, contaminated soil or water, or spillage at a fuel storage location noted on the site. There was an ore stockpile on the pad, containing an estimated 80 tons of ore. It was untarped to allow drying, but a tarp was present nearby to cover it in case of precipitation. The site is not approved for Iona-term ore storaae. The ore will be sacked and removed from the site before winter. Activities and conditions at this pad area, being within the permit area, fall under the requirements of this permit and the environmental protection plan, which the operator must comply with. The stormwater and portal discharge control for the site appears to be in good condition. All onsite runoff is directed to the sumps at the toe of the cutwall, on either side of the portal. There was no standing water, mineral staining or mud anywhere on the pad, all of which have been observed during pas[ inspections. There was no water discharging from the portal, no water in the sumps, and no water pooled inside the adit. The operator stated that recent underground work performed to improve the water management has eliminated all portal discharge. This has improved the ability to operate on the pad and reduced the potential for accidental discharges from underground to surface waters. The gulch adjacent to the site was dry, as well as the small depressions (groundwater monitoring wells) used by the operator for taking water samples. Recent placement of fill material on the SE end of the pad near the gulch has raised the pad level in a berm by about 2 to 3 feet. Clean fill from the borrow pit at the NW was specially placed where pad fill actually contacts the gulch. There was no debris or stained material in the gulch. The operator stated that the next WO sample will be collected very soon. A sampling time of spring rather than lot fall was suggested by the Division, which may be better since it will document the worst water in the gulch and perhaps allow more flowing sample locations. This baseline documentation can benefit the operator. Reaardless of samolina time, the operator should strive to submit the WO analyses in a more timely manner than has been done in the oast. There is now a small trash pit on the south end of the pad near the gulch. A small amount of trash, partially burned, was seen in the pit. Most of the recognizable contents of the pit were benign, but the operator should avoid future disposal of lead/acid automotive batteries in the att. The face of the dump has changed since the last inspection. The terraces constructed to help stabilize the face have degraded to the point where most of them now do not function or even exist. No drainage from the top of the pad is directed over the face and there is no gullying presently, but weathering appears to have worn away the terraces. It was agreed that the face should be allowed to stabilize, with no further disturbance to it for now, but that it will be monitored. No new material is to be placed on the face. A couple loader buckets of material aoaear to have been placed on the northern aart of the duma face, which the operator is advised to avoid in the future. Photos in the permit file of the dump face will be checked to ensure that the toe and face of the dump continue to remain stable and in place. The 3 level pad area was also inspected. Its access road was closed by a locked cable. It is fairly level, and appears very stable with no drainage problems noted. The portal is secured by a locked grate. Tracks still extend from the portal, several ore cars are present, as well as pits of various parts and debris (wood, metal, pipe, building materials, etc.!. The site consists of two small pads. Drainage from the upper pad and outslope is contained by the berm along the edge of the lower pad. In addition to the ore piled at the 6 level pad, there is a quantity of sacked ore at the Vickers Ranch parking lot. There are about 300 of the filled, one-ton sacks present. Some of these are in the location previously noted for ore storage, and there is also a large number of them in a newer area to the north. The northern group is not on the gravel parking lot but on