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<br />~~ <br />Response: Exhibit E is required to show surface streams within the permit <br />boundary. There are none. <br />4. All natural seeps, springs, and wetlands in the permit boundary to the first <br />flowing drainage basin. <br />Response: Exhibit E is required to show these features within the permit <br />boundary and does not show any of them because they do not exist. The first <br />flowing drainage basin is the Roaring Fork River, located approximately one-half <br />mile to the southwest of the mine, as shown on Exhibit B. Again, a visit to the <br />site would confirm this information in a very short time. <br />You also indicated that, before the operation increases beyond 10 tons per day, <br />five quarters water quality for both surface and groundwater will be required. <br />Response: We do not understand the reasoning behind this requirement. Our <br />maximum production rate is 20 to 25 tons per day (5,200 to 6,500 tons per year). <br />This maximum production rate and our average estimated rate, should we go into <br />production, are both so low that we cannot imagine that you are drawing a <br />distinction between our average and our maximum production rates. <br />Still, we do understand your concern with regard to groundwater (again, <br />there is no surface water) and will provide five quarters of groundwater quality <br />data before the operation increases beyond 10 tons per day. <br />Geochemistry and Ore Mineralogy <br />Questions: You have asked for some exceedingly detailed historic information <br />on the trace element mineralogy of the ore, host rock, and waste rock, identifying <br />all minerals that are present in abundances greater than 0.5 percent of any of the <br />rock masses to be disturbed. You also asked that we discuss the volumes, <br />configuration, and mineralogy of materials extracted from the mine through time <br />as well as what happened to those materials and what materials will be mined in <br />the future. <br />With very few exceptions, this type of detailed information does not exist <br />for mines. Miraculously, this type of information has been compiled for the <br />Smuggler Mine. I am attaching a document entitled Summarized and <br />Annotated Bibliography, with Introduction, Glossary of Terms & List of <br />Minerals of the Geology and Developmental History of the Aspen Mining <br />District, Aspen, Colorado, with Particular Emphasis on the Smuggler Mine. <br />It was prepared by Bruce A. Collins, Ph.D., Glenwood Springs, CO, during 1993- <br />1994 as part of the Superfund Lawsuit defense. It is approximately 200 pages of <br />text, plus figures, and answers all of your Geochemical and Mineralogical <br />questions. <br />As the site is one of the operable units for an NPL Supertund Site, there <br />are a number of other voluminous documents available for your review should <br />you desire them. <br />