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<br />EXECUTIVE SUMMARY <br />Homestake Mining Company (Homestake) operated the Pitch Uranium mine in Saguache <br />County, Colorado from 1979 until 1984. The mine extracted uranium ore and trucked it to their <br />mill in Grants, New Mexico. In 1984, mining was suspended and the mine was placed in a care <br />and maintenance status. Incremental reclamation and revegetation of mine site disturbances <br />were undertaken during the period of 1985 to 1993. In 1993, Homestake initiated the process of <br />permanently closing the mine. <br />Since 1993, closure activities have included pit wall grade-down and partial backfilling of the <br />North Pit to reduce pit wall movement, the contouring and revegetation of approximately 230 <br />acres of disturbed area, construction of a plug in the Pinnacle Adit to reduce seepage and <br />improve water quality, monitoring of slope stability in the North and South pits, construction of <br />surface water controls, and the dismantling and removal of the Radium Treatment Plant (RTP) <br />and associated foundation materials and soils. <br />During 2003, Homestake maintained existing mine facilities and fulfilled permit related <br />compliance programs. Some of the major activities included: <br />• Monitored water quality discharged at the point of compliance, SW-33, and submitted quarterly <br />monitoring reports to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) per <br />the requirements of the Colorado Water Discharge System (CW DS) permit #CO-0022756; <br />• Renewed the Radioactive Materials License with the Colorado Department of Health and <br />Environment -Hazardous Materials & Waste Management Division (Permit #150-01, <br />Amendment 12 became effective September 3, 2004); <br />• Drainage improvements, stabilization and reclamation in the area of the old Radium Treatment <br />Plant (RTP); <br />• Continued work within the Tie Camp Creek Disposal Cell with compaction of demolition <br />materials and contaminated soils from the RTP area; <br />• Geotechnical monitoring of pit wall slopes on the south and east walls of the North Pit and the <br />Indian Creek and Tie Camp Creek waste rock dumps; <br />• Conducted tension crack monitoring and Photo Station documentation of the area above the <br />east wall of the North Pit; <br />• Monitoring of the groundwater levels in piezometers within the area of the Pinnacle Mine <br />workings and monitoring of springs and seeps potentially influenced by the resaturation of the <br />workings; <br />• Monitoring of the Sediment Control Embankment per the requirements of the Colorado Division <br />of Water Resources. <br />This information is provided for introductory purposes; details of 2003 project closure and <br />reclamation activities are presented in the following sections. <br />