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Alpine Rock Swan River Resource, M-1993-035 <br />Response to April 16, 2007, DRMS Letter <br />3 August 2007 <br />Page 2 <br />Materials site from the boundaries of the M-1993-035 permit, but also all property <br />upstream of this property, as commercial aggregate mining has not occurred on <br />any part of the M-1993-035 site other than the downstream portion, and presently <br />only the Summit County parcel (jointly owned by the town of Breckenridge) is <br />subject to mining and reclamation under the M-1993-035 permit. <br />Given the assumption that the acreage reduction is appropriate and will be <br />processed successfully, the right of entry issue would affect only the residual <br />Summit County parcel. Currently, Summit County, not Alpine Rock, has designs <br />on the use of the property under the Reclamation Permit. There is no legal <br />dispute concerning a lease, because Summit County has no practical reason to <br />involve Alpine Rock under a lease for its own mining and reclamation activities. <br />In other words, the circumstances where the type of dispute indicated by the <br />Division's letter would arise - where a land owner has revoked a lease and is <br />seeking to discontinue mining -are not present in this case. <br />At present, Alpine Rock is not operating at the site and does not intend to <br />conduct any more commercial mining at the site. The operator has expressed to <br />Summit County that it, like the Division, wishes to limit any further reclamation <br />liability while it still holds the Reclamation Permit (M-1993-035). There is <br />nonetheless general concurrence that Summit County's plans for the site will <br />reduce risks and may decrease reclamation liability as currently represented by <br />the County. Based on the present situation, Alpine Rock has requested that <br />Summit County submit to the state for a Succession of Operator, and the County <br />is proceeding in good faith to review that course of action. <br />As of this writing, the County and Town are considering a Succession of <br />Operator and have executed a written agreement that delimits rights and <br />expectations in the interim before execution of the Succession of Operator (see <br />attached). The legal right of entry is addressed in the attached agreement, and <br />we will forward all other relevant correspondence or executed forms to the <br />Division as they become necessary and available. <br />2. Water Testing. <br />The Division notes that the M-1993-035 permit included some discussion of <br />water testing. A review of the permit file reveals that water quality concerns were <br />raised by Summit County as an official objector during the initial Reclamation <br />Permit application process. As a result of Summit County's concerns, Alpine <br />Rock offered to monitor specific characteristics of the surface water (the Swan <br />River) at either end of the permit site. <br />Following the May 17 meeting at Division offices, the operator again checked for <br />water monitoring records. The consultant that routinely performs lab work for the <br />operator had logs of water samples from multiple sites operated by Alpine Rock <br />during the period of time following the approval of the M-1993-035. Based on <br />. ~~ <br />