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<br />AMENDMENT NARRATIVE <br />This permit amendment application is written to address the addition of 131 acres of <br />affected land to the existing 100 acres of affected land currently permitted under Mining <br />Permit Number M-77-193. The additional acreage is necessary to allow the mine <br />operator, Tezak Heavy Equipment Company, [nc., to continue mining operation:> to the <br />north on Tezak Heavy Equipment Company property. The approval of this amendment <br />application will enable the mine operator to increase the distance between mining <br />operations and Tunnel Drive residential area, effectively reducing the impact of mining <br />operations on Tunnel Drive residents. In addition, the highwall configuration left by <br />mining the granite gneiss has shown to be much more stable when left in a north-south <br />trending direction than the present east-west trending highwall configuration. Mining the <br />granite gneiss located north of the present highwall will remove the less desirable <br />highwall benches and result in overall safer, more aesthetically acceptable final <br />appearance of the highwall configuration. The final highwall configuration will meet or <br />exceed all safety criteria and risk of failure values as projected in the 1997 amendment <br />application risk analysis of the final bench configuration. <br />The last permit amendment for this operation was approved in 1997. At that time, Tezak <br />Heavy Equipment Company, Inc., committed to and executed a number of projects in <br />response to community concerns. These projects include: <br />1) The development and operation of a Blasting and Vibration Control Program, <br />including a site area baseline inventory and seismic monitoring program to insure that <br />blasting operations are not incurring ground vibration or air blast at levels detrimental <br />to nearby property owners. Continued monitoring of ground vibration and a it blast <br />has shown no values of concern along Tunnel Drive or any other areas. <br />2) Tezak Heavy Equipment Company, Inc., has acquired a 99 year lease on Ciro of <br />Canon City property for purpose of a ROW haul road which was completed in 1998. <br />This roadway, installed at the expense of Tezak Heavy Equipment Company, has <br />completely eliminated the use of Tunnel Drive for mine haulage and dramatically <br />improved the residential aspects of Tunnel Drive traffic volume and vehicle size <br />limitations. <br />3) Tezak Heavy Equipment Company, Inc., executed major rock excavation in 1997-8 to <br />re-direct upper watershed drainage above and west of mining operations to <br />constructed sediment ponds located north and east of existing mining operations. <br />This work effectively re-directed stormwater flows away from Tunnel Drive and the <br />Hydraulic Ditch, improving protection from stormwater impacts to Tunnel );give <br />residents and all property owners downstream of the hydraulic ditch. These new <br />stormwater control structures operated successfully during a three day, 200 year <br />storm event which occurred in the Canon City area during April, 1999. The storm <br />control ditches and ponds allowed for diversion of large upland sourced storm flows <br />