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III. COMMENTS -COMPLIANCE <br />Colowyo C-1981-019 <br />3 October 2005 <br />Pg 1 / 2 <br />Below are comments on the inspection. The comments include discussion of observations <br />made during the inspection. Comments also describe any enforcement actions taken during <br />the inspection and the facts or evidence supporting the enforcement action. <br />This was a partial inspection of the Colowyo Mine conducted by Jim Stark of CDMG. <br />The main purpose of this inspection was to meet and go on a field trip regarding the <br />proposed Collom project. Other attendees included Tay Tonoai and Colowyo staff, <br />Sandy Brown, Mike Boulay, Kent Gorham and Dan Mathews of DMG, representatives <br />from DOW, Cedar Creek Associates and Maxim Technologies. The weather was cold <br />and raining and the ground was (obviously) wet. <br />The Collom project is a new surface mine that the Colowyo Coal Company has <br />proposed and is in the process of collecting baseline data. The Collom project is <br />covered by Notice of Intent X-2004-109-10. The original NOI included 39 exploration <br />holes. CCC submitted amendments 1 and 2 to the NOI for five and three additional <br />sites, respectively. CCC was still performing exploration activities at the time of the <br />meeting and field trip. <br />The day began with a meeting at the Colowyo office to discuss the status of the <br />project. The meeting covered all phases of the project including the proposed <br />permit boundary, mining areas, project schedule, geology, hydrology, wetlgnds, <br />erosion and sediment control, soils, alluvial vglley floors, vegetation, air quality wildlife <br />and archaeology. Specialists in each discipline discussed how the project was <br />progressing and what data was being collected. Amore detailed write-up <br />regarding the meeting is available in a letter to Tay Tonoai of Colowyo. <br />Following the meeting a field trip to the Collom site was conducted. The weather <br />was cold and rain was coming down pretty hard, making it difficult to access many <br />of the Collom areas. <br />We first visited the area where CCC has proposed to start the box-cut, which is either <br />the Phase 1 area or the "I-Pod" (although there is no firm mine plan at this time). It is <br />estimated that the initial box-cut will generate approximately 50 million cubic yards <br />of spoil. This area and the proposed access to the mine will be along Jubb Creek on <br />the County Road. Along with the box-cut location we were able to see the <br />proposed excess spoil pile location in the upper East Fork of Collom Creek as well <br />(although there are also other sites being evaluated). Colowyo has estimated that <br />the volume in the excess spoil pile (depending on where, exactly, the put the initial <br />box-cut) will be 50-150 million cubic yards. <br />