REV13480

• Permit No: C1982055
• IBM Index Class Name: Revision
• Doc Date: 9/5/2002
• Doc Name: Additional Adequacy Review Letter
• From: DMG
• To: Energy Fuels Mining Company
• Type & Sequence: RN4
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

STATE OF
DIVISION OF MINERALS AND GEOLOGY
Department of Natural Resources
1313 Sherman St., Room 215
Denver, Colorado 80203
Phone: [phone]
FAX: [phone]
September 5, 2002
George Patterson
Energy Fuels Mining Company
P.O. Box 449
Florence, CO 81226
RE: Additional Adequacy Review
Permit Renewal No 4 (RN-04)
Raton Creek Mine, Permit No. C-82-055
Mr. Patterson:
DIVISION O F
MINERALS
GEOLOGY
RECLAMATION
MINlNG•SA FETY
Bill Owens
Governor
Greg E. Walther
Executive Direttor
Ronald W. Cattany
Acting Division Direttor
As per your letter dated June 24, 2002, the Division of Minerals and Geology extended
the decision deadline to August 26, 2002 for responses to issues identified during the
initial adequacy review regarding Permit Renewal No. 4 (RN-04) for the Raton Creek
Mine. At this time, the Division has not received your responses. Please consider
these additional issues in your responses.
Recently, a storm event filled the sediment pond at the mine site. This event
likely occurred the afternoon of July 29, 2002. Some 68 hours later, on August
1, 2002, the pond was observed during an inspection. The water level had
receded to the level of the top of the 4-inch riser and the high water mark was
estimated at approximately 5 feet above the riser during the peak-of the ~torrrl
inflow.
Review of the approved permit application page 358Rk indicates that 5 feet of
head above the riser would take approximately 60-70 hours to discharge, which
is in line with the observation of actual performance. This page also refers to
sediment estimates and required storage capacity for the 10-year storm event,
calculated to be 4.91 ac-ft (water and sediment combined).
To the best of my knowledge, this recent storm event was not sampled by
EFMC, nor have any other storm-related events been sampled. This is likely a
function of the lack of personnel on-site during these events. The CDPS
Industrial General Permit requires monthly visits to check for flow or discharge
from the pond outfall and sampling of the discharge if it is occurring. The
Division recognizes that the monthly visits are unlikely to coincide with pond
discharge, especially at a site where discharge is infrequent.