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• Page 2 <br />Permitting of this site will formally add [o those available reserves to support the needs of the <br />community. <br />After issuance of the permit, Fountain Colony Investment will maintain the permit in good <br />standing through submittal of annual reports, annual fees, and whatever other informational <br />requirements are needed to maintain the permit in good standing. Meanwhile, Fountain Colony <br />Investment will continue to seek a company interested in operating the site. Over the years a <br />number of companies have expressed an interest in the site, but none have actually moved <br />forward with signing an agreement. In all cases the reasons for their declining the opportunity <br />was internal to those companies or related to general economic conditions, and not because of <br />a problem with the site or the quality of the reserves. <br />It is fully recognized that the existing permit application may not be totally consistent with <br />what is required or expected in a permit application today. But, in our review of your rules, <br />the deficiencies are relatively minor and could be added later when an operator is found. <br />Furthermore, it is not unlikely that an operator would want to make some of their own changes <br />itt the permit prior to their starting operations. Those changes would be made, depending upon <br />the nature of the changes, through an amendment or technical revision. Depending upon [he <br />desires of the operator, either Fountain Colony Investment themselves would maintain [he <br />hermit after operations begin or [he new operator would assume the permit through a <br />succession of operator. <br />It is requested that instead of the full bond amount being required, as if the operation were to <br />begin, a minimal contingency bond be required. In essence, this bond would allow the permit <br />to issue but would not allow any operations to begin. In the 1988 application approval a <br />`D51,000 bond teas required. Probably that bond would not be adequate by today's standards, <br />ever: if onia• in`lation was wr~siderod. Cnc of tl~e wnditions of the requested 3oard action <br />would be to have your staff prepaze a new bond calculation at the time [he site is ready to be <br />mined. No mining could occur until that bond was provided, in addition to all the other <br />conditions being met. <br />With these points in mind, we propose the following conditions to this approval. <br />L Prior to initiation of operations, a bond amount, to be determined by the Division of <br />Minerals and Geology, must be submitted and approved. This bond amount would be based <br />