PERMFILE51828

• Permit No: M2001070
• IBM Index Class Name: Permit File
• Doc Name: LIMITED IMPACT 110 OPERATION PERMIT APPLICATION
• Section_Exhibit Name: EXHIBITS A-L
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

III IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
999
Joann and Wallace Burt
Limited Impact 110 Operation
Permit Application
Exhibits A- L
Prepared by Carlton E. Gerity P.E
Pioneer Engineering
6505 So. Allison St.
Littleton CO 80123
[phone]
Mr. And Mrs. Burtis proposes to open a shallow open pit mine with limited
production, for the purpose of mining high quality Turquoise gem material from
their properties on Mineral Hill just north of Cripple Creek, Colorado.
The Cripple Creek and Victor Gold Mining District produced over 20 million ounces
of gold and two million ounces of silver since its discovery in 1891. Nearly all of the
mining activity took place south of Cripple Creek. However minor gold occurrences
of a similar type were found on Mineral Hill and it is considered part of the District.
A large number of prospects pits and shafts are located on Mineral Hill and were
probably the reason that the turquoise deposits were found during modern times,
Turquoise production was reported from the District as early as 1894.
Mineral Hill is unique in the District for its deposits of free gold and turquoise.
Literature on turquoise clearly recognizes that the Cripple Creek area is an
important producer of gem quality material.
The total area impacted by mining on this permit will be less than one acre, some of
the area is required to store mined material until it can be backfilled, no processing
will take place at the site. Production rates are anticipated to be on the order of less
than one ton per day.
TURQUOISE
Turquoise is a gemstone that has been valued by mankind since antiquity.
Chemically it is a hydrous basic aluminum phosphate plus copper and ferric iron.
Cu(AI,Fe)6(P04)4(OH)8 4H2O
Prized stones are fairly hard, with a hardness of just under six on the Moh's scale, a
mineralogical standard, which means that it will scratch glass and in turn will be
scratched by quartz. Less quality material can be much softer.
Color is generally the "essence" of turquoise, which ranges from a sky blue to green.
The matrix of turquoise is vein matter of the enclosing rocks that is intermingled
and generally cannot be separated. It can be stained by iron oxides into different
colors and can include quartz. Matrix material often can establish the fact that the
stones are genuine or natural. The production from the Burtis pit may include some
gold in the matrix. The production of which would be incidental, and there would be
no process or attemptto recover the gold.
The turquoise mined historically from the permit area and adjacent areas, is hard,
and of good color and has a "high dollar density."