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already known that pH and cyanide results will be meaningless due to sample degradation, and those tests need not <br />be performed. Total dissolved solids (TDS) will be affected if the sample bottles were not capped tightly and some <br />of the sample evaporated. TDS is not regulated, but is an important value to monitor annually, partly since no <br />metals are being analyzed for. Conductivity and sulfates will both be affected if there aze organics in the sample. <br />Those tests could be performed on the old samples, if only to see if the results indicate a degree of acid mine <br />drainage from pyritic material. Analyses for conductivity and sulfates, therefore, maybe included or not in the tests <br />to be run on the old samples. (Note: Past analyses have included tests for total cyanide, rather than WAD cyanide. <br />For the future, it could be a more realistic figure for monitoring of water quality to analyze for WAD cyanide, and <br />not total cyanide.) <br />There are two samples to be taken, one underground and one on the surface. The underground sample represents <br />groundwater. It is to be collected from the constructed sump in the lower discharging adit, Adit 1, preferably in <br />summer of each year, since that is likely when the adit contains water and the site is in operation. The surface <br />water sample is to be collected in the ephemeral gulch below the mine, preferably during the summer or fall low- <br />flow period, before or after the rainy, runoff season. <br />The groundwater analysis which was just received from you (sampled 7/ 1J02) contains four of the five pazameters, <br />appazently lacking the TDS. If there is still opportunity to request this additional parameter from the lab, please see <br />if they can include it in your 2002 surface water analysis also. It will then include all required parameters. I hope <br />the new lab is testing down to sufficiently low detection levels. (If you choose to analyze for WAD cyanide, please <br />discuss this with the lab before you collect the next sample, since there might be a different sampling or <br />preservation technique involved.) This may apply to all future analyses at this point. <br />Question Concemine_Tails <br />Please explain what you meant about the mistake you made about the tails. This at first sounds like a potentially <br />large problem, but hopefully is just a matter of minor clarification. Please cottunent. <br />Update Contact Information <br />I appreciate you contacting the Denver office and updating the responsible party's contact name on the permit. I <br />have not yet seen any correspondence in that regard, but I know it has been entered into the file. <br />Meeting to Discuss Permit <br />I am in support of a joint meeting with you and Tom Baca. My office would be appropriate for the meeting, and I <br />am available most days between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. I have a few field days coming up in late August and early <br />September that I will have to work around, but call and we can discuss a mutually convenient date and time. <br />Weed Control Activities <br />Your weed control efforts will be most effective if they are timed correctly and target the right part of the plant or <br />its life cycle. Herbicide spray application is the most common class of weed treatment, but mechanical methods <br />may be effectively used in conjunction. Piease provide me with the name of the chemical you plan to use, so that I <br />have that for my files. At the end of the year, as a part of your annual report, please briefly summarize your spray <br />project: date(s) applied, weed plant location(s), chemical, and its observed effectiveness. As for this season's weed <br />treatments, please note that if the thistle seeds have formed and set, killing the foliage will not prevent the seeds <br />from continuing the infestation. Weed control is a long-term commitment, but it is always desirable to try to make <br />it as short as possible. It might be advisable, therefore, to manually collect the flowers (now seed heads?) and bag <br />them and remove them from the site, soon. Leave the stalks and foliage as a surface to catch the herbicide. <br />Topsoil <br />Topsoil will always be needed as a resource to improve reclamation efforts. You state that the grizzly would be <br />used to make topsoil for reclamation. Most of the materials handled onsite appear to be fairly surficial. Material <br />salvaged from maintaning sediment collection areas or onsite roads could be considered topsoil. Segregating fine <br />material from the waste rock, overburden or other materials may also help create "topsoil," but it should be mixed <br />