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MINE ID # OR PROSPECTING ID #: M-1977-59A <br />INSPECTION DATE: ]0199.19o 1R INSPECTOR=S INITIALS: 11 F <br />OBSERVATIONS <br />This inspection was conducted due to a citizen's complaint from S. H. Bud Scott an adjacent landowner to the <br />Worthing Pit, DBMS file number M-1977-526. This site is located approximately one half mile south west of <br />the town of Brighton, Colorado in Adams County. Mr. Ben Frei of Albert Frei and Sons and Mr. Craig E. <br />Tessmer of Adams County accompanied me on the inspection. <br />Mr. Scotts letter indicated that he was concerned about how deep the mining operation intended to go. Upon <br />review of the Divisions files, the current approved mining and reclamation plan did not specify the exact depth <br />the operator intended to mine because they were not sure how much water they would have to fill the pit. <br />Currently, there is a pit excavation in the north expansion area, the pit depth was measured using an Abney <br />level, and it was found to be about 24-25 feet deep from the bottom of the pit to the top of the berm. Using a <br />GPS Trimble unit, several elevation points were collected from the base of the pit and from the fence line near <br />Brighton road just east of the North Expansion Area. It was estimated that the bottom of the pit excavation is <br />about 37 feet bellow the elevation of the fence. Mr. Frei stated that they intended to backfill the pit excavation <br />in the North Expansion Area to the same elevation as Brighton Road. It was observed that the pit slopes go <br />right up to the fence surrounding Mr. Scotts property. According to the current approved mine and reclamation <br />plan submitted for this area, the operator was supposed to maintain a 25 foot setback around the permit lines. <br />This includes the area around the Scotts fence line. The operator will need to backfill and grade the pit slopes <br />around the Scotts fence to create the required 25 foot setback, from the permit boundary. This is cited as a <br />problem on the last page of this report. <br />Pit Lake 1 on the north west side of the property is currently filled with water. Mr. Frei stated that mining has <br />been complete in Pit Lake 1, but the berm separating pit lake 1 and 2 will be removed to form on large water <br />storage reservoir. Pit Lake 2 at this time is being dry mined, a trench has been dug into the clay shale bed rock <br />about 10 feet deep and is currently being dewatered. This activity is approved in the current mine plan. Several <br />survey posts have been placed above the pit excavation, and the pit is about 55-60 feet deep from those posts. <br />According to Mr. Frei, the operation intends to mine a total of 10 feet into the clay shale pit floor making the <br />maximum depth of the mine about 65 to 70 feet deep. As stated above there has been no maximum pit depth <br />approved for this permit operation. Based on the information provided from Mr. Frei, it appears that the <br />maximum depth of the pit excavation will be about 65-70 feet deep, so the operator will need to submit a <br />Technical Revision to the current approved mine plan to clarify the final pit depth. Also at this time, there are <br />two reclamation plans outlined for this site, Reclamation Plan A and Reclamation Plan B. It appears that the <br />operator is proceeding with Reclamation Plan B based on the conversation with Mr. Frei and the observations at <br />the mine site. In order to finalize the reclamation plan, the operator should specify which Reclamation Plan the <br />operator intends to proceed with in the future. This information should also be included in the Technical <br />Revision discussed previously. The fee for a Technical Revision is $216.00. <br />According to Mr. Scott his well is about 600 feet deep, it does not appear that the mining operation will impacts <br />his well. However, an inspection was conducted at this site on November 20th, 2006 at this site, and it was <br />determined that the mining operation was impacting the vegetation around the Scotts property. This was cited <br />as a problem on that inspection report. The corrective action for this problems was that the operator was to <br />"Provide to the Division written evidence of agreement with the Scotts regarding operator-chosen method for <br />the Scotts ready access to an available water source on or before January 15th, 2007". At this time, the operator