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STATE OF COLORADO <br />DIVISION OF MINERALS AND GEOLOGY <br />Department of Natural Resources <br />1313 Sherman St., Room 215 <br />Denver, Colorado 80203 <br />Phone: (303) 866-3567 <br />FAX: (303) 832-8106 <br />April 5, 2005 <br />COLORADO <br />D I V 1 5 I O N O F <br />MIN,SRALS <br />GEOLOGY <br />REC LAM ATIO N•MINING <br />SAf ETY•SC IEN CE <br />Bill Owens <br />Governor <br />Russell George <br />To: Carl Mount Executive Director <br />CC: Allen Sorenson Harry Posey RGnald w. cattany <br />r Division DireROr <br />Natural Resource Trustee <br />Re: Cotter Corporation, Active Uranium Mine Permit Review And Preliminary Report. <br />On March 24th, 2005, Division of Minerals and Geology staff conducted,a permit review and. site <br />inspections for five active uranium mines owned and operated by Cotter.Gorporation. Mr; Glenn <br />Williams, Mine Supervisor for Cotter operations in the Naturita Area .provided details`for the <br />permit review. and accompanied staff for the inspections: ;The Division and the operator had <br />been slowly working towards reclamation of these sites. So as a courtesy old plans. were left <br />unchanged. However, due to a sudden swing in uranium prices, these mothballed sites can <br />now become viable mining operations once again. The activation of mining operations has <br />facilitated the review of all active permits. The five Cotter mines and permit numbers reviewed <br />are: JD-6 Mine, M-1977-310, Mineral Joe Claims, M-1977-284, JD-8 Mine, M-1984-014, JD-9, <br />M-1977-306 and the Wright Group, M-1979-118. The JD Mines and-the Mineral Joe are located <br />on the north side of the Davis Mesa area of the Paradox Valley in. Westecn.Colorado and=are. <br />mining the same rock /ore formations. The Wright Group is in the. Uravan Belt and located just <br />east of the Uravan Mill site north of Naturita, Colorado. <br />The primary focus of the permit reviews are to gather information to determine if current <br />activities at the mines that sat dormant for an extended period of time meet current Rules and . <br />Regulations within the authority of the Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Act. In particular, staff <br />review has focused on current mining activities to ensure that the sites do not fall under the <br />Designated Mining Operations (DMO) portion of CRS 34-32 and the Rules as defined in Rule 7 <br />of the Hard Rock /Metals Rules and Regulations. Information gathered by staff will be reviewed <br />by Division engineers to identify any issues that may need more information or data to complete <br />the review process. Minerals Supervisor, Bruce Humphries will review the Final Report with <br />staff recommendations to make the determination if DMO status is or is not warranted, or other <br />measures need to be enacted by the operator to ensure compliance with the Act and Rules. <br />Office of Office of Colorado <br />