GENERAL35062

• Permit No: M1977310
• IBM Index Class Name: General Documents
• Doc Date: 4/5/2005
• Doc Name: Active Uranium Mine Permit Review and Preliminary Report
• From: DMG
• To: DMG
• Permit Index Doc Type: DMO
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

STATE OF COLORADO
DIVISION OF MINERALS AND GEOLOGY
Department of Natural Resources
1313 Sherman St., Room 215
Denver, Colorado 80203
Phone: [phone]
FAX: [phone]
April 5, 2005
COLORADO
DIVISION OF
MIN&RALS
GEOLOGY
RECLANATION•NININL
SAFETPSQENCE
Bill Owens
Governor
Russell George
To: Carl Mount Executive Direttor
CC: Allen Sorenson Harry Posey Ronald W. Cottony
, Division Direttor
Natural Resource Trustee
Re: Cotter Corporation, Active Uranium Mine Permit Review And Preliminary Report.
On March 24th, 2005, Division of Minerals and Geology staff conducted a permit review and site
inspections for five active uranium mines owned and operated by Cotter Corporation. ,Mr. Glenn
Williams, Mine Supervisor for Cotter operations in the Naturita Area provided details for.the
permit review and accompanied staff for the inspections. The Division and the operator had
been slowly working towards reclamation of these sites. So as a courtesy old plans. were left
unchanged. However, due to a sudden swing in uranium prices, these mothballed sites can
now become viable mining operations once again. The activation of mining operations has
facilitated the review of all active permits. The five Cotter mines and permit numbers reviewed
are: JD-6 Mine, M-1977-310, Mineral Joe Claims, M-1977-284, JD-8 Mine, M-1984-014, JD-9,
M-1977-306 and the Wright Group, M-1979-118. The JD Mines and the Mineral Joe are located
on the.north side of the Davis Mesa area of the Paradox Valley in Western Colorado and are•
mining the same rock /ore formations. The Wright Group is in the. Uravan Belt and located just
east of the Uravan Mill site north of Naturita, Colorado.
The primary focus of the permit reviews are to gather information to determine if current
activities at the mines that sat dormant for an extended period of time meet current Rules and
Regulations within the authority of the Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Act. In particular, staff
review has focused on current mining activities to ensure that the sites do not fall under the
Designated Mining Operations (DMO) portion of CRS 34-32 and the Rules as defined in Rule 7
of the Hard Rock /Metals Rules and Regulations. Information gathered by staff will be reviewed
by Division engineers to identify any issues that may need more information or data to complete
the review process. Minerals Supervisor, Bruce Humphries will review the Final Report with
staff recommendations to make the determination if DMO status is or is not warranted, or other
measures need to be enacted by the operator to ensure compliance with the Act and Rules.
Office of Office of Colorado