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t M-95-007/Thomeczek 5/16/95 page 2 The new application has modified the mining plan for the pit to be wet-mined, and reclamation plan for a recreational pond. This is fine, if a pond can be allowed to exist there. But as you know, the Colorado Division of Water Resources (and Office of the State Engineer) have jurisdiction over water in the state. Your pond has contributed to evaporative losses in the Arkansas River basin, without there being an approved augmentation plan .to offset those losses. You were informed of the need to obtain such a plan a year ago, yet there is still no augmentation plan. Without one, your pond, at least to the extent that you have expanded it since 1986, may not be allowed under state laws, and allowance of any future expansion is doubtful. Without an approved augmentation plan (or substitute water supply plan) from the Office of the State Engineer, our office cannot approve expanding the size of your pond's evaporative surface under the proposed new mining plan. We can, however, conditionally approve the permit application, but must also require posting of an additional amount of bond to cover the reclamation costs associated with backfilling, until you have completed one of the following: either A) secure an augmentation plan which will allow for the existence of the enlarged surface of the present pond, that you have caused since 1986, or B) complete the backfilling and reclamation of the pond to its 1986 size. The total bond for the new permit is now calculated to be $9500.00. This includes the transfer of the original $5000.00 for reclamation of the road, stockpile areas and pond banks of the expansion area, and an additional $4500.00 for the backfilling and revegetation tasks in the original permit area, described above. After the backfilling and revegetation is complete, or an augmentation plan is approved (allowing a pond larger than the 1986 size), a portion of your bond may be released, since it will be unnecessary for this office to hold that part. For requesting that a portion of the bond be released, you must follow Minerals Rule 4.16, and must have satisfied one of the requirements stated in the paragraph above. For your information, I have enclosed a cost estimate of the tasks involved with this backfilling and revegetation, using overburden and soil material from the existing permit area. For the condition attached to the approval of the new permit to be lifted, evidence of obtaining the approved augmentation plan must be submitted to this office.