1999-01-19_REVISION - M1977326 (5)

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IMPACTS OF BLASTING OPERATIONS AND RECOMMENDED PRACTICES AND CONTROLS FOR CLAY MINING OPERATIONS AT ROBINSON BRICK COMPANY'S SILOAM CLAY MINE SUMMARY OF GENERAL FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS This summary provides GEOTEK's findings regarding the impacts of the proposed blasting and excavating work at Robinson Brick Company's Siloam Clay Mine in Pueblo County, Colorado. Other conclusions specific to various aspects of the blasting and mining work are included in the body of the main report. The report also includes GEOTEK's recommended blasting controls designed to minimize the effects of blasting on mine's neighbors and adjacent property. I. If blasting is performed within the limits proposed in this report, it is extremely unlikely that blasting will damage any nearby property or unnecessarily annoy or injure neighboring people or livestock. For the proposed blasting and separation distances, the intensity of blast-induced ground motion will not even approach threshold levels that could be damaging to structures or water wells. GEOTEK has been directly involved in many projects where rock blasting was performed without incidents, despite the existence of much greater technical and operational challenges than those presented at the Siloam Clay Mine. Thus, GEOTEK is confident that the proposed blasting and mining can also be performed without incident. 2. GEOTEK has found no evidence suggesting that blasting, rock removal and clay excavation will have any significant long-term impacts on the land that will be mined within the permitted mining area of the Siloam Clay Mine. Impacts like blast noise and vibration would exist only temporarily during each blast and they are not expected to cause any lasting damage. Moreover, since mining will occur above a sandstone depression that is not connected to aquifers feeding nearby wells, mining activity will have little if any impact on area groundwater. GEOTEK& Associates, Inc. Page S-1 January 99