ENFORCE24851

• Permit No: C1981038
• IBM Index Class Name: Enforcement
• Doc Date: 3/23/2001
• Doc Name: BACKGROUND INFORMATION FOR PROPOSED CIVIL PENALTY FOR NOV CV-2001-003 BOWIE 1 MINE PN C-81-038
• From: DMG
• To: DAN HERNANDEZ
• Violation No.: CV2001003
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

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STATE OF COLORADO
DIVISION OF MINERALS AND GEOLOGY
Department of Natural Resources
1313 Sherman 51., Room 21 5
Denver, Colorado 80_03
Phone: [phone]
FAX: [phone]
DIVISION OF
MINERALS
GEOLOGv
RECLAMATION
MINING•SAFETY
DATE: March 23, 2001 Bill Owens
Governor
GrCR E. Watcher
Executive Director
Michael B. Long
TO: Dan Hernandez oiv~sion Direcor
FROM: Jce Dudash ~~ D
RE: Background Information for Proposed Civil Penalty for NOV CV-2001-003,
Bowie No. 1 Mine, Permit No. C-81-038, Bowie Resources Limited
I am requesting that you determine a proposed civil penalty for NOV CV-2001-003, issued to
Bowie Resources Limited for the Bowie No. 1 Mine.
On March 5, 2001, as part of a normal field inspection of the Bowie No. I Mine, I inspected the
West Portal area of the mine. The operator is in the process of backfilling and grading the West
Portal azea, as part of reclamation activities.
When I saw the West Portal sedimentation pond, it was obvious that a substantial amount of the
pond volume had been eliminated. The contractor had placed, temporarily, a large amount of soil
just to the east of the pond and had constructed a temporary road between the soil stockpile and
the pond, apparently to facilitate the building of the temporary soil stockpile. However, the
contractor filled [he east side of the pond in building the temporary road. Because the contractor
was not on site during the inspection, I was no[ able to find out why i[ had happened. However,
Basil Bear, of Bowie Resources, did talk to the contractor later. The contractor said that he just
wasn't being careful enough when he moved the soil to the temporary stockpile next to the pond.
I estimated that about one fourth of the pond volume had been eliminated by this temporary road.
This was determined by visually comparing the pond configuration at the time of the inspection
with the as-built drawing. The operator had been periodically checking the progress of work at
the Wes[ Portal, but obviously did not catch this in time. Because it was late in the day, I
informed Bowie of this problem the next day.
NOV CV-2001-003 was written on March 6, 2001 for failure to maintain the West Portal
sedimentation pond in accordance with designs that are approved and required to ensure
adequate capacity. The abatement steps were to excavate the east side of the pond to design