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<br />• • III IIIIIIIIIIIII III <br />TE OF COLORADO <br />DIVISION OF MINERALS AND GEOLOGY <br />Depanmenl of Natural Resources <br />1317 Sherman 51., Room 215 <br />Denver, Colorado 80203 <br />Phone: (303) 866-7567 <br />FAX: (7031832-8106 <br />October 17, 1994 <br />Mr. Thomas E. Ehmett <br />Office of Surface Mining <br />Albuquerque Field Office <br />500 Marquette Avenue NW, Suite 1200 <br />Albuquerque, NM 87102 <br />RE: Ten Day Notice 94-020-352-005 <br />North Thompson Creek Mine (C-81-025) <br />Dear Mr. Ehmett: <br />~~~ <br />DEPARTMENT OF <br />NATURAL <br />RESOURCE <br />Roy Romer <br />Governor <br />lames 5. Lochhead <br />Exec ul.re Dueaor <br />Michael 8. Lung <br />Drvrsion Dvector <br />The Division of Minerals and Geology received the above-referenced <br />Ten Day Notice (TDN) and accompanying inspection report on October <br />6, 1994. The TDN includes three alleged violations of Colorado's <br />regulations. The alleged violations involved impoundments P-1, P- <br />2, and P-7 at the reclaimed North Thompson Creek mine site. Two of <br />the three impoundments were large stilling basins next to the mine <br />access road which dissipate the energy of runoff from undisturbed <br />areas prior to runoff passing through culverts and leaving the mine <br />site. The third structure (P-2) served as a sedimentation pond at <br />one time. <br />Page 6 of the inspection report includes a misunderstanding of the <br />commitment which was made with regard to these structures at the <br />inspection close-out. At the inspection close-out it was obvious <br />that questions about the design, inspection and status (reclaimed <br />or not) remained which needed to be answered. I committed to issue <br />an enforcement action if these questions were not adequately <br />answered. Initially it appeared that the problems with the ponds <br />were related to permit defects and we took action to have the <br />permit defects addressed. However, on second look we agree that <br />correcting the permit defects would not entirely correct the on- <br />the- ground issue. Therefore we have addressed the permit defects <br />with the operator in addition to taking an enforcement action. <br />In addition the report narrative indicates that DMG attempted to <br />persuade OSM that appropriate action was not necessary at this time <br />because OSM had previously visited the site and had not raised the <br />issue on these ponds. That is not the case. What we pointed out <br />was that DMG and OSM had both participated in a Phase I bond <br />release at the site, at which time one would expect that one of us <br />would have become aware of this problem. However, neither one of <br />