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_. <br />• <br />DIVISION OF MINERALS AND GEOLOGY <br />Dcl ~,tnmenl of Natural Resources <br />I l l }Sherman 51., Ronm ? I S <br />Denver, Colorado 8020] <br />Phnn¢ (1011 Bbfi-1567 <br />FA7: 1311 N N}!-NI OG <br />December 1. 1997 <br />Ms. Pat Smith <br />EPA - 8 M/C <br />999 18th St Ste 500 <br />Denver, CO 80202-2466 <br />~~~ <br />fJEPARTMENT OF <br />NATURAL <br />RESOURCES <br />Rnv knmr~ <br />Gnrrrnur <br />Limes 1. Lie hhrad <br />Fey uuvc Dur%nn <br />hli~hae B Lune; <br />Diri~inn DImUp! <br />RE: Comments, Analytical Results Report, Site Inspection, Gold Hill Tailings Site, Colorado <br />Springs, CO, EPA ID# COD983801275 <br />Dear N1s- ,th,~`'~ <br />Thank you for the package on the Gold Hill Tailings Site, which contained the following <br />documents: <br />1. Analytical Results Report, Site Inspection, Gold Hill Tailings Site, October 14, 1994, <br />EPA ID# COD983801275 and <br />2. Sampling Activities and Analytical Results Report, TDD #T08-9501-012 April 14, <br />1995. <br />We discussed this site a couple of weeks ago with regazd to a proposal by a company who <br />appazently have acquired a process for re-mining the tailings and therefore may be interested in <br />starting a mining operation. We have not heazd from that company, so assume they are either <br />still in the exploratory phase or have re-assessed the economics of the situation. <br />As I had indicated, the issue of re-mining is currently being discussed by our Mined Land <br />Reclamation Board. At issue is whether the Board has the authority to regulate the processing or <br />re-processing of earthen materials that are not being removed from their "natural state." This <br />issue will be discussed at this month's board hearing. <br />Regarding the information packet, I looked for indications of possible water quality impacts on <br />either surface or groundwater. There is some indication of possible local impacts to groundwater <br />although this cannot be verified from the data; a couple of wet! samples had high lead, but <br />whether this is related to plumbing is not evident from the information. Also, sediments in <br />Fountain Creek evidently contained elevated metals, relative to upstream samples, but whether <br />this is a cause for toxicity cannot be told from the data. There is not really any useable surface <br />water quality data because the surface water samples were collected during high flow, so if there <br />are surface water impacts from the Golden Cycle Mill tailings, they may be masked by the <br />~-9~ ~r~ <br />CTOTC ~ COLORADO <br />III IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ~.~, <br />