2006-12-18_REVISION - M1978314 (3)

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King Mountain Sand and Gravel Mine Ecological Resources Assessment Page 4 Elevations of the Project site range from a low of about 8,378 where Egeria Creek crosses the east boundary (Photo Point NL 2) to a high of approximately 8,656 feet along County Road 3 on the west boundary (Photo Points MF IA and 4F, Figure 3). Surficial geology mapped by Tweto (1979) includes Quaternary gravels and alluviums of pre Bull Lake age for the terrace north of County Road 5, and Mancos shale for the area along Egeria Creek and County Road 5. As depicted on Figure 5, Quaternary gravel deposits are of limited occurrence, both in southern Routt County, farther north near Steamboat Springs, and the Eagle River valley in Eagle County. Egeria Creek is the principal drainage in the southern edge of Routt County. Its source is in the Flat Tops eight miles to the west of the property, and its confluence with Rock Creek is approximately 10 miles southeast of the Property, just north of McCoy (Figures 1 and 2). Egeria Creek is the principal drainage on the property, running parallel to the south boundary (Figure 3, Photo Paints NL 1-3). Smith Creek, draining portions of Five Pine Mesa and Porcupine Ridge west of the Project site, has a confluence with Egeria Creek in the southwest portion of the property (Figure 3). Three drainages are located on the east side of the terrace, including the North Drainage in the northeast corner of the property (Photon Point MF 3), the Middle Drainage with the stock pond (Photo Point MF 2), and the South Drainage that runs along the east boundary down to County Road 5 and Egeria Creek (Photo Points NL 4 and 5). An irrigation ditch crosses the northeast property corner and continues east to the 5 Pine Ranch (Figure 4, Photo Point MF 2). There are also irrigation ditches on either side of Egeria Creek (Photo Point NL 2). The stock pond in the Middle Drainage is fed by seepage in the drainage. King Mountain Gravel, LLC has a storage right for the stock pond, plus storage rights for three more sites in the drainages. Since the mine is a dry pit above the water table, there is no need for dewatering of the pit, and discharge into drainages. 3.4 Project Description The 1978 DRMS permit allows ten acres of mining with no restrictions. The first mining on the property started by Routt County with the operation located on [he west side of County Road 3. The County stopped mining at the site, and the reclamation subsequently failed. The operation was then taken over by Frank Hewes, and the pit moved [o the east side of County Road 3. Mining continued on a sporadic basis. King Mountain Gravel, LLC acquired the property three years ago and has applied for an expanded permit from the County to mine an additional acreage of approximately 27 acres. The 27 acre permit being applied for will include the old 10 acre mine that will be under reclamation and an additional 17 acres for active mining. The County prefers that an operator only permit small portions of a total property for mining at any given time, and that the operator come in for additional acreage under a revised permit once the reserves on the previous area are close to depletion and reclamation is underway. The County application is still in process. In 2005 [he Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Board approved a permit conversion expanding the State Reclamation permit from the old 10 acre Section 110 permit to cover the entire 340 acres under a Section 122 permit with approximately 185 acres mineable. The remainder of 155 acres is left as buffer area. Figure 3 displays the mine plan for this permit. Figure 7 displays Che reclamation plan. The plan is to implement this State permit and to move through the permitted area in increments that coincide with [he Routt County process.