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G~w ~-~P STATE OF COLORADO DIVISION OF MINERALS AND GEOLOGY Department of Natural Resources 1373 Sherman St., Room 215 Denver, Colorado 80203 Phone: (303) 8663567 FAX: D03) 832-8708 July 8, 2005 MEMO TO: Daniel Ellisonr/ FROM: Tony Waldron'T W RE: Castillo Pit; File # M-2000-053; Formal Complain"t Letter RAD O O N O F RALS GEOLOGY Rill Owens Govertror Russell George Executive Director Ronald W, Uttany Division Director Natural Resource Trustee Attached is a formal complaint letter from Frank E. Ruybalid, Attorney at Law, who represents Mr. Toby Espinoza, an individual in Las Animas County. The subject of the complaint is a rudimentary cemetery located within the permit boundary of the Castillo Pit operated by Las Animas County. It is the Division's understanding that the cemetery is now owned by Andy Castillo, the owner of the land where the cemetery resides. However, Mr. Espinosa claims to have several ancestors and siblings buried in the cemetery and is concerned about the possible encroachment of mining on the cemetery. Mr. Castillo and the county have an agreement to not mine within the boundaries of the cemetery and it has been delineated on a map and on the ground. However, as you read the letter, you will note that there is a concern about unrnazked graves that may be outside the mazked boundary of the cemetery. I did conduct an inspection of this site as part of a previous written complaint and as the result of that inspection, the boundaries of the cemetery were expanded in the azea where the potential unmarked graves are located. In addition, the landowner requested that the county increase their buffer several more feet and the county also agreed to mine at a 3H;1 V slope through the overburden to further distance them from the edge of the cemetery before mining vertically to extract the resource. The site will then be backfilled at a 3H:1 V slope up to the buffer boundary. In addition, we suggested that we could perform a stability analysis to confirm that the agreed to set-back would be stable. This analysis has not been completed to date. As the result of this written complaint, another inspection was conducted. The site is virtually identical to its condition during the previous inspection and many of the alleged vehicle encroachments were not observed. However, instead of taking the operators word for how they intend to mine, we have decided to proceed with a different approach. A problem will be cited requiring the operator to submit a technical revision to their permit application incorporating a restriction to mine at no more than a 2H:1 V slope from the edge of the delineated buffer of the cemetery or conduct their own stability analysis showing that they could mine closer. The 2H:1 V slope is a conservative rule of thumb set-back for slope stability. In all likelihood, an engineer certified stability analysis would probably allow mining to safely occur closer and at a steeper slope while Once of Office of Colorado Mined Land Rxlamation AQive and Inactive Mines Geological Survey