2008-04-15_REVISION - M1980244 (268)

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Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mining Company MLE Traffic Impact Study INTRODUCTION Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mining Company (CC&V) Cresson operation is located between the cities of Cripple Creek and Victor, in Teller County, Colorado. It is generally surrounded by Highway 67 on the west and south, and County Roads (CR) 81, 82, 83, and 821 to the north and east. The mine has two primary access intersections. The northern area is accessed via County Road 82 through the Ironclad Maintenance Facility (just over 1 mile southeast of SH 67), while the southern portion of the property is accessed from State Highway 67 less than one mile west of Victor. CC&V is currently producing approximately 25 million ore tons and 60.5 million tons overburden per year. The mining operations are currently expected to continue until Year 2012, which is the last year of the mine life under the current permit. CC&V has recently undertaken a study to look at the feasibility of extending the life of the mine and continue current mining operations until about the Year 2016, with leaching continuing through Year 2024 and closure reclamation of the mine being performed through about Year 2032. The mine life extension (MLE) project is based on extracting the gold resources in various areas of the mine, particularly on the north side of the mining district. It also involves the development of an overburdenn_ storage area on ±he northeast side of the mine, and building a Phase 5 to the existing valley leach facility (VLF) on the southwest side of the mine over the Arequa Gulch overburden storage area. It should be noted that other than temporary construction traffic associated with the building of the Phase 5 VLF, mining operations will not increase, but rather will continue at the same level as currently permitted The purpose of this study is to document traffic volumes, operational conditions, and impacts to area facilities associated with the MLE, and forecast traffic volumes (for all traffic) through the Year 2024. Interstate Engineering, Inc. was retained by CC&V to prepare a report detailing the type, amount, and impacts of existing and future traffic traveling to and from the mine entrances on the county and state roads surrounding the mine under the MLE scenario. EXISTING MINE TRAFFIC Employment at CC&V is currently at the maximum projected level of 332 people. These employees, along with visitors and deliveries of operating supplies made by heavy vehicles, make up the existing mine-related traffic that is using the surrounding state (SH 67) and county (CR 81, CR 82, CR 83, and CR 821). facilities. Other traffic not associated with the mine is what is called background traffic. In previous studies, traffic volumes had been estimated with a set of assumptions about background traffic and distribution of mine-related traffic (including employee commuter traffic) throughout the day. For this study, actua124-hour traffic counts were taken with • Interstate Engineering, Inc. 3 April, 2008