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<br />Lyster Pit Page 2 of 5 <br />Moffat County, Colorado July 3, 2008 <br />Figure 1 for locations of both surface and groundwater rights. These are shown as the <br />following: <br />ID-836 - Yampa Valley Golf Diversion (incorrectly located on Colorado State <br />Engineer's online water rights maps); <br />ID-2416 - Blue Gravel SP 13, east of proposed mine (Bill Ditch); <br />ID-1357 - Told Bros. Spring No. 1, southwest of proposed mine; and <br />ID-6098 - Airport Terminal Well, north of proposed mine. <br />ID-836 is the Yampa Valley Golf Course Pump Diversions, appropriated July 22, 1965 for <br />1.4 cfs, whose claimant was the City of Craig. Diversion records from 1974 to 2007 <br />indicates that this water right typically produces up to 1.4 cfs in any given year. Even <br />though the State Engineer's map records show this in the middle of the proposed pit, the <br />legal description for the diversions is actually on the south bank of the Yampa River (see <br />Figure 1.) Also, there is no infrastructure in the middle of the field that is being proposed <br />for mining. <br />Of the other three diversion rights, the State Engineer only shows diversion records for the <br />Bill Ditch (ID-2416), which were kept from 1984 to 1988. Diversion records show that the <br />ditch diverted one (1) cfs during that time period. <br />Deep Cut Ditch <br />The Deep Cut Ditch traverses the southern edge of the proposed mine. The ditch is an <br />irrigation ditch decreed for 84.99 cfs, of which the State Engineer's records show 68.74 cfs <br />is absolute (Colorado's Decision Support System records). <br />A potential concern raised by constructing a open pit excavation nearby a ditch is whether <br />or not the ditch might be partially dewatered or drained by a nearby pit. This can occur if <br />the ditch is disturbed, e.g., the mine runs through the ditch, or the ditch is excavated or <br />cleaned excessively, or if the seal in the ditch from sediments and silts is completely <br />removed, and the subgrade of the ditch is a highly porous gravel. Additionally, a very <br />small percentage of seepage can occur if the gradient of the groundwater adjacent to the <br />ditch is significantly increased. However, an increased gradient seldom happens in reality, <br />because ditches are located above adjacent ground, and already have a high groundwater <br />gradient immediately adjacent to the ditch. We believe that increased seepage from the <br />ditch with be minimal due to the presence of the pit, provided that the ditch is not disturbed <br />beyond what has historically occurred for cleaning the ditch. Based on our experience <br />with similar situations along the Yampa River, we believe provisions should be made to <br />keep the mine excavation at least 25 to 30 feet away from the ditch. We understand from <br />reading the application that the applicant intends to keep mining operations at least 200 <br />feet from the ditch. We believe this will be more than adequate to protect the integrity of <br />the ditch. <br />It is our understanding from reviewing borehole logs provided by the applicant and from <br />discussions with Steve that there is a deep loam material that underlies the Deep Cut <br />Akl <br />WATER RESOURCE CONSULTANTS, LLC